
Qass. 
Book 



CHURCHES AND PASTORS 



OF 



WASHINGTON, D. C; 



TOGETHER WITH 



FIVE HUl^DRED TOPICS OF SERMOIs^S, DELIVERED IN 
1855 AXD '6. 



TO WHICH IS ADDED, 

A LIST OF ALL THE CHURCH-EDIFICES, AND THEIR 
LOCALITIES. 



BY LORENZO D. JOHNSON, 

Author of " Chaplains of the Government." 



NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY M.W. DODD, 

NO. 59 CHAMBERS ST., Bear of the Pafk. 

1857. 



AtJ'4 



PRINTED BY 

EDtoarti ©. Jenfti'ng, 

20 Frankfort St. N. Y. 



. >'^' 

D ' 



'tic 







^ Ir^-if 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction, 9 

Pirectory to Churches, u 11 

Churches and Pastors, 21 

Christ Church, 23 

F Street Presbyterian Church, 26 

Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal Church, 30 

First Presbyterian Church, 32 

Wesley Chapel, 34 

Saint John's Church, 36 

First Baptist Church, 40 

Saint Patrick's Church, 44 

Saint Matthew's Church, . , 45 

Sai . Peter's Church, 46 

Foui -h Presbyterian Church, 46 

Baptist Church, 61 

Foundry Methodist Episcopal Church, 52 

Friends' Meeting, 55 

Second Presbyterian Church, 67 

E Street Baptist Church, 64 

McKendree Chapel 67 

Unitarian Church, 70 

Church of the Ascension, , 73 

Saint Paul's English Lutheran Church, 75 

(vii) 



Vm CONTEXTS. 

Eyland Chapel, 77 

Methodist Protestant Church, 80 

Trinity Church, 82 

Sixth Street Presbyterian Church, 83 

German Evangelical Church, 85 

■ Shilo Baptist Church, 87 

Presbyterian Church, 90 

Methodist Church South, 92 

Thirteenth Street Baptist Church, 96 

Methodist Protestant Mission Church, 300 

Church of the Epiphany, 101 

German Evangelical Church, 103 

German Evangelical Lutheran Church, 103 

Assembly's Church, 107 

Jews' Synagogue, 110 

Union Chapel, 115 

Grace Church, 117 

New Jerusalem Church, 118 

Gorsuch Chapel, 120 

Fletcher Chapel, 120 

Providence Chapel, 121 

Methodist Episcopal Church, 122 

"Western Presbyterian Church 123 

Chaplains to Congress, 127 

Sabbath Schools, 129 

Five Hundred Topics, 137 



INTRODUCTION. 



The District of Columbia, embracing within its 
limits the cities of Washington and Greorgetown, 
the national capitol and all the vast machinery of 
the Greneral Government, constitutes one little terri- 
tory, in which this whole brotherhood of States 
have an equal interest. The Heads of the several 
Departments with their hundreds of clerks, and the 
other employes of the government, coming here 
from all parts of the country, to have, at least, a 
temporary residence, nothing less can be ex- 
pected, than that there should be felt, in every 
Congressional district of the Union, more or less 
solicitude as to the secular, social, and moral con- 
dition of this growing metropolis. 

Leaving others to inspect the workings of the 
political machinery in this District, we propose 
to give in this work only a very concise view of 
the moral aspect of things — in connection with 
the pastors and churches of Washington. 

For a work of this kind to have any claims to 
completeness, it should include the religious enter- 
prises and interests of Georgetown^ as well as 
AVashington — with which, by the increasing faoili 

(ix) 



X INTRODUCTION. 

ties of communication, it has already, in a social 
point of view, become consolidated — as it is now 
expected it will be, practically, at no distant date. 
These, together with many other statistical and his- 
torical facts, for want of time and material must 
be left for a future edition. 

The pulpit sketches and historical reminiscences 
found in these pages, are selected from the 
*' National Intelligencer," for whose columns we 
have prepared, from week to week, under the head 
of " Sabbath Review," brief outlines of sermons. 
Embracing as they do the leading, and sometimes 
the choicest thoughts of the discourse, we felt so 
desirous to preserve them, that ere we were aware, 
they had grown into a compilation of sufficient 
size to make a book of many hundred pages. 
To reduce it into the narrow limits of this 
v^rork, has been an unwilling task. We trust that 
the church-going people of Washington and of the 
country generally, will not regret to see these 
reminiscences put into a form for preservation. 

The Five Hundred Topics of Sermons are taken 
from the sketches of discourses published in the 
Sabbath Review. 

The List of Churches^ with their localities and 
pastors, and also the times of holding public wor- 
ship, will form a convenient Directory for the peo- 
ple of Washington, as well as for strangers visit- 
ing the national metropolis. 



DIRECTORY 



TO 



CHURCHES OF WASHINGTON 



DIRECTORY. 13 



LIST OF CHURCHES. 

A LIST of all the churches in Washington, D. C, 
including the names of the respective pastors ; and, 
so far as ascertained, the times of holding public 
worship. 

BAPTIST CHIJBCIIES. 

First Church, 10th street, between E and F 
streets. Rev. S. P. Hill, pastor ; residence on H, 
between 15th and 16th streets. 

Navy Yard Baptist Church, Virginia avenue, 
corner of 7th street east. Rev. Mr. G-reer, pastor ; 
residence on Virginia avenue, between 7th and 8th 
streets east. 

E Street Church, E street, between 6th and 7th 
streets. Rev. Gf. W. Samson, pastor ; residence 
on 6th street, between D and E. 

Fourth Church, 13th street, between Gr and H. 
Rev. Dr. Teasdale, pastor ; residence on 13th 
street, between G and H. 

Services at all the Baptist churches at 11 A. M., 
and at the usual hour at night. 



14 DIRECTORY. 



CATHOI.IC CHURCHES. 



St. Patrick's Church, F street west, between 9th 
and 10th streets north. Rev. T. J. O'Toole, pas- 
tor; F. E. Boyle, assistant. Services daily at 5= 
and 6i A. M.; on Sundays at 6, 7, and 10^ o'clock 
A. M. and 4 P. M- Parsonage adjoining the 
church. 

St. Matthews, corner 15th street west and H 
street north. Rev. John B. Byrne, pastor ; Rev. 
Jas. B. Donolon, assistant. Parsonage adjoining 
the church. 

St. Mary's (G-erman), 5th street west, between 
Gr and H north. Rev. Matthias Ailig, pastor. Ser- 
vices same as above. Parsonage adjoins the church. 

St. Peter's, (Capitol Hill,) 2d street east. Rev. 
Edward A. Knight, pastor. Services at same hours 
as above. Parsonage adjoining the church. 

St. Dominick's, (Island,) F street, between 6th 
and 7th streets. Rev. .1. A. G. Wilson, pastor ; 
J. N. Clarkson, assistant. Parsonage opposite the 
church. 

EPISCOPAIi CHURCHES. 

Christ Church, (Navy Yard,) (x street south, be- 
tween 6th and 7th streets east. Rev. J. Morsell, rec- 



DIKECTORY. 15 

tor ; parsonage adjoining the church. Services at 
11 A. M. and 4 P. M. 

Trinity Church, corner of dd street west and C 
street north. Rev. Gr. D. Cummins, rector ; dwell- 
ing 6th street, between D and E. Services at 11 
o'clock A. M., and at the usual hour at night. 

Church of the Ascension, H street north, between 
9th and 10th streets. Rev. Mr. Stanley, rector. 
Services at 11 o'clock A. M. and at night. 

Church of the Epiphany, G street, between 13th 
and 14th streets. Rev. Charles H. Hall, rector. 
Services at 11 o'clock A. M. and 4 P. M. 

St. John's Church, opposite the Executive Man- 
sion, at the corner of H ;?treet north and 16th street 
west. Rev. Dr. Pyne, rector. Services at 11 
o'clock A. M. and 4 P. M. 

Grrace Church, D street, between 8th and 9th, 
(Island.) liev. Alfred Holmead, rector ; dwelling 
on B street, south of Smithsonian Institution. Ser- 
vices at 11 o'clock A. M. and at night. 



FRIENDS' i^EETlIVO HOrSE^^ 



I street, between 19th and 20th. Service at 11 
o clock. 



16 DIRECTORY. 

J£1FS' SYNAGOGUE, 

4th street, opposite east end of City Hall. Ser- 
vice every Saturday from 8 to 10 A. M. 

r.1JTIIERAN CHURCHES. 

German Evangelical Church, corner 20th and 
G streets. Rev. Samuel D. Finkle, pastor ; dwell" 
ing near the church. Service at 11 o'clock A. M. 

English Lutheran Church, corner of H and 11th 
streets. Rev. J. G. Butler, pastor ; dwelling 12th 
street, between K and L. Services at 11 o'clock 
A. M. and at night. 

German Lutheran Church of the Unaltered 
Augsburg Confession, north side of E, between 3d 
and 4th streets. Rev. Wm. Nordman, pastor ; 
dwelling next door. Services at lOJ o'clock A. M. 
and 3J P. M. 

iriETHODIST EPISCOPAIi CHURCHES. 

McKendree Chapel, Massachusetts avenue, be- 
tween 9th and 10th streets. Rev. George Hildt, 
pastor ; residence 9th street, between L and M. 

Foundry Church, corner 14th and G streets. 
Rev. Samuel Register, pastor ; parsonage adjoin- 
ing church on G street. 



DIKECTOEY. 17 

Union Chapel, 20th street, between Pennsyl- 
vania avenue and H street. Rev. Wm. S. Rogers, 

pastor. 

Ryland Chapel, corner of Maryland avenue and 
10th street, (Island.) Rev. John S. Deale, pastor ; 
parsonage 10th street, adjoining Ryland Chapel. 

Gorsuch Chapel, 4^ street, between L and M, 
(Island). Rev. J. H. Ryland, pastor; residence, 
parsonage above. 

Wesley Chapel, corner F and 5th streets. Rev. 
"William Krebs, pastor ; residence F, between 6th 
and 7th streets. 

Capitol Hill Church, corner A and 2d streets. 
Rev. R. S. Hough, pastor. 

Ebenezer Church, 4th street, east, between E 
and Gr streets south, (Navy Yard.) Rev. Francis 
H. Richie, pastor ; residence 7th street, between 
G- and I streets. 

Services at all the M. E. Churches at 11 A. M. 
and at the usual hour at night. 

Fletcher Chapel, corner New York avenue and 
4th street. In charge of the McKendree Chapel 
station. 

Providence Chapel, corner I street and Delaware 
avenue. In charge of the Capitol Hill station. 



18 DIRECTORY. 

Methodist Episcopal Church South, 8th street, 
between H and I. Rev. Dr. Doggett, pastor. 

METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCHES. 

Methodist Protestant Church, 9th street, be- 
tween E and F. Rev. P. L. Wilson, pastor ; 
dwelling, parsonage adjoining the church. 

Methodist Protestant Mission Church, corner of 
Virginia avenue and 5th street, (Navy Yard.) 
Rev. John R. Kichols, pastor. 

Service in all the Methodist churches at 11 A. M. 
and at the usual hour at night. 

NEIV JERUSAIiEM CHURCH. 

On North Capitol street, between B and C streets, 
near the Capitol. Minister temporary. Service 
at 11 o'clock A. M. 

PRESRYTERIAN CHURCHES. 

First Presbyterian Church, 4^ street, between 
C street and Louisiana avenue. Rev. Dr. Sunder- 
land, pastor. Services at 11 A. M. and at the usual 
hour at night. 

Second Presbyterian Church, New York avenue, 
near the corner of I street north. Rev. J. R. 
Eckard, pastor. Services at 11 o'clock A M. and 
4 o'clock P. M. 



DIRECTORY. 19 

F street Presbyterian Church, F street, between 
14th and 15th streets. Rev. Dr. Grurley, pastor : 
residence west side of 12th, between G and H 
streets. Services at 11 A. M. and at night. 

Fourth Presbyterian Church, 9th street, be- 
tween Gr and H streets. Rev. Dr. J. C. Smith, 
pastor. Services at 11 A. M. and 4 P. M. 

Assembly's Church, corner of I and 5th streets. 
Rev. A. Gr. Carothers, pastor. Services at 11 A. M. 
and at night. 

Sixth Presbyterian Church, corner of 6th street 
and Maryland avenue, (Island.) Temporary sup- 
ply- 

Seventh Presbyterian Church, 7th street, be- 
tween D and E, (Island.) Rev. E. B. Cleghorn, 

pastor. 

Western Presbyterian Church, Gr street, between 
19th and 20th streets. Rev. T. H. Haskell, pastor. 

UNITARIAN CHURCH. 

Corner 6th and D streets. Rev. M. D. Conway, 
pastor ; dwelling Mr. Hudson Taylor's, corner 
9th and D streets. Service at 11 o'clock A. M. 

€OI.OR£l> CHURCHES. 

Colored Presbyterian Church, 15th street, be- 



20 DIRECTORY. 

tween I and K. This church is temporarily 
supplied by Dr. James Wilson. 

First Colored Baptist Church, 19th street, corner 
of I. Rev. Samson White, pastor. 

Second Colored Church, Missouri avenue, be- 
tween 6th and 7th streets. Rev. Gustavus Brown, 
pastor. 

Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, corner 
11th and K streets. Rev. Thomas McG-ee, pastor ; 
residence 8th, between I. and K streets. 

Little Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal Church, 
south C street, between 4th and 5th streets east. 
Rev. F. S. Evans, pastor. 

Israel Bethel African Methodist Episcopal 
Church, south Capitol street, near Capitol Hill. 
Rev. Samuel Watts, pastor. 

Union Bethel African Methodist Episcopal 
Church, corner 15th and M streets. Rev. W. H, 
Waters, pastor. 

John Wesley Chapel, between 17th and 18th 
streets. Rev. T. J. Clinton, pastor. 

Zion Wesley Chapel, on D, between 2d and 3d 
streets, (Island.) Rev. Mr. Jones, pastor. 



CHURCHES AND PASTORS. 



CHURCHES AND PASTORS. 



CHRIST CHURCH, 

WASHINGTON PARISH, NAVY YARD, 

Rev. Joshua Morsell, rector, preached in the 
morning before the communion, from 1 Corinth- 
ians V. 5 : 

*' For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." 

The speaker presented a striking parallel be- 
tween the institution of the Passover in Egypt 
and the types which foreshadowed the death and 
merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, with the media- 
torial relation in which he stands to us " miserable 
sinners." He also explained the relationship of 
the Lord's Supper, (which was instituted the 
night on which our Saviour was keeping the Pass- 
over with his Disciples,) to that ancient institu- 
tion, where our Saviour transferred the sacrifice of 
the lamb that was slain, and to be eaten on that 

(28) 



24 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

occasion, to himself, and said : " This is my body, 
which is given for you ; this do in remembrance 
of me." 

Rev. Mr. Morsell has just entered upon the 
duties of his rectorship in this parish. Taking 
this discourse for a sample, Mr. M. furnishes the 
hope and promise of bringing the requisite prepa- 
rations and qualifications to " feed the flock of 
Grod." He takes the place of the Rev. Mr. Hodges, 
who but recently retired from this pastoral charge. 
And as this fact has not before been mentioned in 
our " Sabbath Review," it would not here be out 
of place to pay a passing tribute to the piety and 
usefulness of one who has, for the last seven years, 
gone in and out among this people, " an example 
of believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, 
in spirit, in faith, in purity." The benevolence of 
his heart, the gentleness of his manner, and his 
diligence in visiting his people, especially ''in all 
times of their tribulation," will not soon be forgot- 
ten. 

Christ Church, to which name, for the sake of 
designating its location, we have usually append- 
ed "Navy Yard," is the oldest church organization 
in this city. The corporate name is " Christ's 



or washi^:gton. 25 

Church, Washington parish;" and that venerated 
receptacle of the dead, better known as the '' Con- 
gressional burying-ground," belongs to this "Wash- 
ington parish," the right name of which is "Wash- 
ington Parish Cemetery." As it was the oldest 
and largest burying-place in the Federal city, Con- 
gress made an early beginning there to deposit 
their honored dead, as the long line of monumental 
blocks, bearing the date of the death of deceased 
members, bears witness. Hence it is now so 
widely known as the Congressional burying- 
ground. The entrance to Christ's Church being 
through gateways, and shaded grounds in front, 
w'lih. flowering shrubbery and the parsonage on the 
side, gives it an air of rural quietude, all in har- 
mony with the "house of prayer." Then the 
high projecting galleries, and the narrow nave of 
the church, together with the elevated position of 
the pulpit, reminds one of those sacred olden times 
on which the mind often delights to dwell, while 
such structures as some of our church edifices now 
are, were never dreamed of. Nor does it lessen 
one's impressions of other days to learn from the 
older members of " Washington parish" the lively 
recollections thev have of President Madison, 



26 CHUKCHES AND PAST0E3 

(whose lady would usually arrive first in her 
coach,) as he came regularly to church, in fair 
weather, on horseback, like our present Chief 
Magistrate, who usually reaches the church-door 
on foot almost as soon as his lady is ready to alight 
from her coach. 

F STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Rev. p. D. G-urley, D.D., preached in the morn- 
ing from John xiv., part of the first verse : 
"I go to prepare a place for you.'' 

The speaker insisted on the sentiment of the text, 
that heaven has somewhere in G-od's universe a 
locality, and brought many passages of Scripture 
to show that He, who has purchased us with his 
own blood, has not withheld his highest wisdom 
and ability in preparing a place for all his followers, 
that where He is there they may be also beholding 
his glory. As to where this " place" is, he said, the 
Scriptures were silent, only that they everywhere 
point upward, " far above all heavens ;'' and then 
produced the suggestion made by Dr. Dick, that 
the numerous systems of the universe appear to 
astronomers tq be revolving around some vast 



OF WASHINGTON. 27 

centre, in the same manner as our solar system 
revolves roand the sun ; and that as the sun is 
five hundred times larger than all the planets of 
the solar system, so this great centre may exceed 
in size all the systems in the same proportion ; 
that on this vast central universe, five hundred 
times larger than all the worlds that float in space, 
God has his great white throne, where there is room 
enough for all nations of every kindred who shall 
be the heirs of salvation, whether in this world or 
on those far away revolving round other suns. To 
this " place," having led captivity captive, our 
Saviour hath ascended to make ample and com- 
plete preparation for all who follow him in the 
regeneration. The point of appeal in the discourse 
was this : ?ince, to be a disciple, a follower, an 
imitator of Christ, indeed, to be a partaker of the 
Divine nature, were the indispensable qualifica- 
tions for ascendinar " into the hill of the Lord and 
to stand in this holy place" — who is attending to 
it and who neglecting it ? The appeal was search- 
ing and impressive. 

Dr. Cluriey evidently attaches a great value to 
the undying soul. Believing that it is " a great 
salvation" to be saved, so also to lose the soul is 



28 CHURCHES AND PASTOES 

evidently, in the speaker's mind, full of affecting, 
serious, and awful considerations ! 

Among the deaths which have occurred the past 
week in Dr. Grurley's charge is that of Rev. Mr. 
AVynans, late principal of the Central Academy. 
Mr. W. was regarded by all who knew him as a 
good man and a sound logical preacher. Besides 
discharging the duties of a teacher at the head of 
his school through the week, he was here and there 
rendering assistance to the regular pastors on the 
Sabbath. Although a member of the Old School 
Presbyterian Church, he has several times sup- 
plied the pulpit for Dr. J. C. Smith, much to the 
edification of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, 
during their pastor's illness. Sustaining such re- 
lations to the community, his death must be la- 
mented beyond his immediate family and relations. 
In a brief allusion to his death, Dr. Grurley spoke 
of the loss to us of such a man even as of small 
moment in a comparison with the gain to him 
— dying with the calm, bright assurance which 
religion inspires, which, like the clear setting sun, 
grew brighter until his eyes were closed in a Chris- 
tian's death. Altogether the service of the morn- 
ing at F Street Church was well calculated to 



OF WASHINGTON. 29 

impress the mind with the importance of attending 
to the things which make for our peace before they 
are forever hid from our eyes. Feeling the sub- 
ject, which he had seriously revolved in his own 
mind, to be important, he made others feel. The 
audience evidently retired with the impression that 
religion is a subject which should belong to no 
secondary consideration. 

The origin of this church runs back to 1803, 
when Rev. James Laurie, then known as a Scotch 
seceder, commenced preaching in the hall of the 
old United States Treasury building. His first 
church was built in 1808. Although the church 
subsequently became identified with the Presby- 
terian church (old school) of this country, yet Dr. 
Laurie was its sole pastor until 1841, when in 
consequence of protracted illness he was assisted 
by Dr. Van Rensselaer and after him Dr. S. Tustin. 
In 1843, Rev. N. Bannatyne became associate pas- 
tor with Dr. Laurie. In 1846 Rev. Mr. Bannatyne 
died, greatly beloved by the senior pastor and by 
the church generally. As a testimony of respect 
for his character, a marble slab is placed in the 
wall of the church bearing a creditable inscription 
to his memory. Rer. L. H. Christian was then 



30 CHUKCHES AN^D PASTORS 

associated with Dr. Laurie for only a short time, 
when he was succeeded by Dr. D. X. Junkin, who 
remained associate pastor until after Dr. Laurie's 
death, which occurred in the spring of 1853. 

Many of the distinguished men who have been 
engaged in administering the government at Wash- 
ington, have been regular in their attendance at 
this church. Among these may be mentioned 
Gren. Harrison, Hon. James Buchanan, Pttstmasters- 
Greneral WicklifFe and Collamore, Hon. Mr. Dob- 
bin, Secretary of the Navy. Hon. Wm. Wirt held 
two pews in the church while in Washington. 
President Pierce, who regularly attends the Four- 
and-a-half street church (Dr. Sunderland's) in the 
morning, is as regular in his attendance at F street 
church at night. 

EBENEZER METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHUECH, 

SIXTH WARD, NAVY YARD. 

Rev. Mr. Richee, pastor, preached in the rnorn- 
insf on the selfishness of sin, in contrast with the 
philanthropy and benevolence of the Gospel, from 
Philippians ii. 21 : 

" For all seek their own, and not the things which are Jesua 
Christ's." 



OF WASHINGTON". 31 

The pastor of this church, in his ministerial ed- 
ucation and Christian character, is regarded as 
an intelligent theologian and true servant of the 
church. He is now in the second year of his 
ministry in this charge, with ordinary prosperity. 
The Ebenezer church is the oldest Methodist organ- 
ization in Washington. This is the reason, per- 
haps, that the Sabbath school connected with the 
Ebenezer church was placed in the lead of the 
long procession of the Methodist Sabbath School 
celebration which took place in this city several 
days ago. Nearly fifty years since the Methodists 
commenced holding meetings in a room then and 
long afterwards known as the "Twenty Buildings," 
towards G-reenleaf's Point. They subsequently 
worshipped in an old building which originally 
belonged to the Carroll estate, situated near what 
is now called the " Carroll Spring." In about the 
year 1811 the church edifice they now occupy was 
erected, from whence has grown up the twelve 
churches and chapels occupied by the various 
Methodist congregations (including the Methodist 
Protestants and the Methodist Church South) now 
within the city of Washington. At the last cen- 
sus of 1850 (since which there have been added 



32 CHrRCHES AND PASTOES 

the church on Capitol Hill, the Fletcher Chapel, 
Gorsiich and Union chapels) the Methodist church 
property was estimated to be worth fifty thousand 
nine hundred dollars, with accommodation for about 
nine thousand persons. Arrangements are now 
made for replacing Wesley Chapel by the erection 
of a new and more commodious church ; and the 
first movements are already made by the Ebenezer 
church for leaving in due time their venerated old 
building, the corner-stone of which was laid by 
Rev. Beverly Waugh, (now Bishop,) when he was 
comparatively a young man, for a new and more 
commodious house, better adapted to the pressing 
wants of that congregation. 

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

FOUR-AND-A-HALF STREET. 

Rev. Byron Sunderland, D.D., having returned 
from his annual vacation, preached on the doctrine 
of Divine Providence, from Exodus xiii. 21, 22: 

"And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, 
to lead them the way ; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give 
them light — to go by day and night. He took not away the 
pillar of the cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from 
before the people." 

The speaker proceeded to consider what are 



OF WASHINGTON. 33 

called ''special providences," and "dark provi- 
dences," and urged the claims of the Gospel upon 
his hearers, by a consideration of the designs of 
Providence in relation to the final destiny of man. 

In the absence of this gentleman from the city, 
he visited the Green Mountains of Vermont, in his 
native State. He w^as at the commencement exer- 
cises of Middlebury College, and delivered an ad- 
dress before one of the College societies. A gradu- 
ate of that institution, of the class of 1838, he has 
now, in the 36th year of his age, received from his 
Alma Mater the honorary decree of Doctor of Di- 
vinity. 



Rev. Dr. Sunderland, pastor, preached morning 
and evening, from Psalms xlviii. 12-14 : 

*'Walk about Zion, aud go round about her ; tell the towers 
thereof; mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces, that 
ye may tell it to the generations following ; for this God is our 
God forever and ever ; he will be our guide even until death ;'' 

giving a historical account of the church, from its 
commencement to the present time. 

It is the oldest Presbyterian church in the city, 
except the F street church, which, at the time of 
its organization, was a church of Scotch seceders. 
2* 



84 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

The Four-and-a-half street church, is, therefore, 
strictly the first Presbyterian church organized in 
Wavshington. It began to be in 1809; its first 
communion was in the room of the Supreme Court 
of the United States. It has had two church 
edifices, seven pastors, twenty ruling elders, thirty- 
seven members of the temporal committee, and 
nine hundred and sixty-six communicants. To 
this account the speaker added a review of the 
distinguished individuals who had worshipped 
statedly with this church ; such as Gen. Jackson, 
President Polk, Mrs. Col. Benton, who had gone to 
the spirit-land ; and that among the present regular 
attendants on divine service, from Sabbath to 
Sabbath, were our Chief Magistrate, Hon. Elisha 
"Whittlesey, and several of the United States Rep- 
resentatives. 

WESLEY CHAPEL, 

CORNER FIFTH AND F STREETS. 

Rev. R. L. Dashiell, pastor, preached in behalf 
of the Norfolk and Portsmouth sufferers, from Job 
xxxiii. 29, 30 : 

"So all these things worketh God oftentimes -with man, to 
bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light 
of the living"." 



OF WASHINGTON. OO 

His main object appeared to be to present the 
reasons for Grod's manifested earnestness to save 
the souls of men. One of his propositions was, 
that when favorable providences became the cause 
of our pride and hardness of heart, it is a wise 
manifestation of his goodness to us to send such 
dispensations as will secure the desired end, 
namely, our penitence and salvation, even though 
they may be what we call " afflictive." To add 
that the subject was so treated as to produce deep 
emotion, is to present a very incomplete idea of the 
discourse. Mr. Dashiell brings to the Christian 
Ministry a strong mind in a strong body. He 
does not touch religious matters lightly. What in 
his estimation does not deserve to be done with all 
his might, he leaves for more effeminate minds to 
perform, and will not, therefore, fail to make his 
mark. He does not allow the scholarship of a col- 
legiate graduate, the exegesis of a studied theology, 
or rules of sermon-making, to lessen the force of 
the impressive episodes and earnest zeal of a down- 
right Methodist preacher. An almost continuous 
revival of religion is in progress in his charge. He 
has meetings every night in the week, and pro- 
poses that the series shall be unbroken through the 



33 CHUr.CHES AKD PASTORS 

coming autumn and winter. Mr. D. is in the 
fourth year of his ministry in Washington, which 
completes the term allotted him, by the rules of 
Methodist itineracy, to remain in a city. Early 
next spring the Annual Conference will assign him 
some new field of labor, very much to the regret, 
according to present appearances, of the many who 
crowd the chapel to attend on his ministrations. 
Imbibing the deep- toned feeling which character- 
ized the preaching of the distinguished man after 
whom his chapel is named, and more especially the 
spirit of his Divine Master, he bids fair to close a 
term of increasing usefulness like those luminous 
bodies which increase in size, and in the strength 
and beauty of their radiance, until they pass from 
sight. The collection amounted to about two 
hundred dollars. 

ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, 

REV. S. PTXB, D.r., RECTOR. 

Right Rev. Bishop Whittingham preached, after 
which he administered the right of confirmation, 
and the Lord's Supper. The Bishop selected his 
text from Jeremiah, chap, xxxv. and a clause in 
the 13th verse : 



OF WASHINGTON. 37 



"Will ye not receive instruction, to hearken to my words? 
saitli the Lord." 



The speaker proceeded to give the interesting 
narrative contained in this chapter concerning that 
remarkable people, the " Rechabites," many of 
whom, on the approach of an invading- army, fled 
to Jerusalem, and there had their obedience to the 
instruction of their fathers tested, by having " pots 
full of wine" set before them, which they refused 
to drink. ''We will drink no wine," said they ; 
" for Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father, com- 
manded us, saying, ye shall drink no wine, neither 
ye nor your sons forever. Neither shall ye build 
houses, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyards, nor have 
any; but all your days shall ye dwell in tents, 
that ye may live many days in the land where ye 
be strangers. Thus have we obeyed the voice of 
Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father, in all that 
he hath charged us," &o. "And Jeremiah said 
unto the house of the Rechabites : Thus saith the 
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, because ye have 
obeyed the commandments of your father, and 
kept all his precepts, and done according to all he 
hath commanded you, ^therefore, thus saith the 
Lord of hosts, the Grod of Israel, Jonadab, the son 



38 CHQRCHES AND FASTOES 

of Rechab, shall not want a man to stand before 
me forever." This unbending integrity, this faith- 
ful obedience in the presence of temptation (with 
the pots of wine before them), on the part of this 
people, was made the occasion of a solemn rebuke, 
as found in the text : ' ' Thus saith the Lord of hosts, 
the G-od of Israel, go tell the men of Judea and 
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will ye not receive 
instruction, to hearken to my words ? saith the 
Lord. The words of Jonadab are performed ; for 
unto this day they obey their father's command- 
ments, notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, 
rising early and speaking, but ye hearkened not 
unto me." In reference to the fulfilment of the 
promise made to these Rechabites, the Bishop made 
allusion to the reliable statement of that wonderful 
man, the Rev. Mr. Wolf, who, while travelling in 
Mesopotamia, found the Rechabites still a distinct 
people, drinking no wine nor having any vineyards, 
but living in tents, and carrying out the instruc- 
tions of their father Rechab, and that he heard one 
of them repeat the blessing which God had prom- 
ised them for that obedience, which had been 
transmitted in the Arabic tongue from one genera- 
tion to another, now for more than two thousand 



OF WASHINGTON. 89 

five hundred years, althongli entirely ignorant of 
the scriptures in which the promise is recorded. 
The Bishop made this subject the basis of the fol- 
lowing sentiment: That obedience — obedience to 
parents, to Governments and rulers, to ecclesiasti- 
cal authority, and obedience to God — formed the 
groundwork of our present and future hopes. Self- 
control, and the submission of our wills to the will 
of God, formed the basis of Christian character. 
The submission and teachableness of children, their 
filial obedience, — obedience from love to parents, — 
was made to illustrate the grounds of our obedience 
to God. The tendency of the age to early insub- 
ordination and the disobedience of children, were 
considered. ; parents were also believed to be in the 
fault. This tendency to "individuality" and dis- 
regard of the laws, would, if persisted in, render 
the rules by which society is governed, no better 
than ropes of sand. To this end, said the speaker, 
did the Apostles go out and preach the gospel, 
namely, " obedience to the faith among all na- 
tions," and that we may have "obedience unto 
righteousness." 

Next to Christ's Church at the Navy Yard, St. 
John's is the oldest Episcopal Church in the city. 



40 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

Built in the form of a cross, it has a venerable ap- 
pearance ; and with its history, ministry and 
membership, there are many interesting and hal- 
lowed associations. 



FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, 

TENTH STREET. 

Rev. S. p. Hill, pastor, preached from Titus 
ii. 14 : 

" Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all 
iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of 
good works." 

The one object of this discourse appeared to be 
to unfold the great ends had in view by our 
Saviour's advent into this world. It was adapted 
to the occasion of the Lord's Supper, which was 
administered in the afternoon. Were we to pre- 
sent the dignity of Him '' who gave himself for us," 
and the sinful state of those he came to redeem 
"from all iniquity," and infer from the greatness 
of the price paid for man's redemption, the import- 
ance of this work of " purifying unto himself a 
peculiar people," we should give some clue to a 
sermon which presented the wonderful fitness and 



OF WASHINGTON. 41 

ability of Christ to accomplish the work He alone 
can perform — namely, to lead such sinners as we 
are, through the sanctifying influences of the Holy 
Spirit, to be " zealous of good works." 

With sympathies which do not suffer the mis- 
eries that sin has introduced into the family 
of man to go unobserved, Mr. Hill appears 
to realize that the widows and the orphans, in 
their destitution and loneliness, are to be cared 
for by those who are "zealous of good works." 
He listens to the noise of war with anxious 
concern, not so much to know which party will 
become victorious, as to learn how many garments 
will be rolled in blood, and how many wives, 
mothers and children will be left in their bereave- 
ment to go about the streets in search of daily 
bread. In his sermons he talks of the scenes at 
Sebastopol as if distance from the place, or the 
participants being of other nations, had nothing to 
do with lessening our realization of the woes there 
produced. Nor is he unmindful of human suffer- 
ing, in its various forms, all around us. With 
such susceptibilities he approaches the Cross of 
Calvary and the victim " who bore our griefs and 
carried our sorrows," there expiring, in the Ian- 



42 CHURCHES AND PASTOSS 

guage of the text, " for us," with feelings that 
give form and point to words, and with thoughts 
that stir the souls of his hearers. Ptev. Mr. Hill is 
pastor of the First Church of the Baptist order in 
Washington — a place filled by his venerated pre- 
decessor, Rev. Mr. Brown, for nearly half a cen- 
tury. 



Rev. S. p. Hill preached from 1 Peter ii 7 : 

" Unto you therefore which believe, he is precious." 

After an introduction, the speaker divided his 
subject into two inquiries : First, What is it to 
believe, or to have faith in Christ ? Second, Why 
is Christ precious to believers ? He then proceeded, 
in answering the first interrogatory, to say that 
there were two kinds of faith ; that one was pro- 
duced by evidence, that it might be regarded as a 
faith of the intellect only ; that the devils as well 
as wicked men had that faith — they believed and 
trembled. The other had its seat in the heart ; 
it consisted in a confiding submission and an af- 
fectionate reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ for 
present salvation. Unto you, therefore, who thus 



OF WASHINGTON. 43 

believe he is precious. This faith produces obe- 
dience as natural as the confiding, affectionate 
child is obedient to its parents. Obedience is faith 
in exercise. In conclusion, he gave to all professed 
Christians one sure test as to whether they pos- 
sessed the faith in which salvation lies, namely. 
Is Christ precious ? Though now we see him not, 
yet believing^ do we rejoice with joy unspeakable 
in the preciousness of Christ, for this is the pro- 
duct of saving faith? Hearing Mr. Hill reminds 
us of the man, while on a visit to the city, whom 
his friend desired to gratify by going with him to 
any place of worship the visitor should choose — on 
being informed of one clergyman who always fur- 
nished his hearers with an intellectual treat ; of 
another noted for his graceful manner, his musical 
voice, and who was altogether an eloquent man ; 
and yet of a third minister, who had no peculiarity 
so striking as this, that he sent his audience away 
thinking so much about Christ as the only Saviour 
of men, that the speaker was hardly mentioned, 
his subject being made so much more the topic of 
thought and conversation, than himself. Rev. Mr. 
Hill is eminently a preacher of Christ and him 
crucified, — " the way, the truth, and the life." 



44 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

/ V 
ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH, (CATHOLIC.) 

Rev. T. J. O'TooLE, pastor, F. E. Boyle, assist- 
ant. Sabbath morning, at 6 o'clock, we attendee! 
''mass" (the sacrament of the Lord's Supper) in 
this time-honored place of worship. We were not 
a little surprised to find, at this early hour, so 
many in attendance as to render it impossible for 
all to find a place to kneel or even stand inside the 
church. On this account, after a sufficient recess 
was given for those in attendance in the church 
to retire, and those outside to take their places, 
"early mass" was repeated. To those who sincerely 
believe in the mysterious process of transubstantia- 
tion, a changing the consecrated elements into the 
real body and blood of Christ, it is not difficult to 
conceive that this is a solemn and deeply impress- 
ive institution of the church. That the worship- 
pers are sincere, and deeply impressed by the occa- 
sion, no one who shall witness these exercises can 
for a moment doubt. The solemn stillness, the 
undivided direct attention, the devout and earnest 
manner manifested in attending to their appro- 
priate devotions of reading prayers or handling 
the rosary^ or in receiving the sacrament, ample 



OF WASHINGTON. 45 

evidence that there is an impressive sense of an 
awe-abiding presence, which lifts the mind above 
all earthly distinction, may be seen in their man- 
ner of approaching the altar to receive the Eucha- 
rist. Here may be seen genteel persons kneeling 
at the side of the day-laborer, who might have 
been born in other lands, and at the same time 
with persons of color, as if to say, '• In the presence 
of G-od all distinctions are forgotten." Wednesday 
is the anniversary of the death of the venerable 
Father Matthews, late pastor of this church. 

ST. MATTHEW'S CHURCH, (CATHOLIC.) 

Rev. Jas. Donelan, pastor, Joh.v B. Byrne, 
assistant. Being in attendance at this church at 
11 o'clock, we heard the senior pastor deliver a 
highly practical discourse on the nature and bene- 
fits of prayer, and its indispensable necessity to 
our final salvation, from " the Grospel for the day," 
found in St. John's G-ospel,. 16th chapter, com- 
mencing at the 23d verse : " Yerily, verily, I say 
unto you, whatsoever ye ask the Father in my 
name he will give it you," &c. Rev. Mr. Byrne 
officiated at the altar. But the music — the music ! 



46 CHURCHES AKD PASTOES 



It would be difficult for an uninitiated hearer not 
to acknowledge that it formed a large share of the 
attraction. 

ST. PETER'S CHURCH, (CATHOLIC.) ' 

CAPITOL HILL. 

Rev. Edward A. Knight, pastor. At 4 o'clock, 
P. M., we attended " Yespers" in this church. 
The exercises embraced little more than chanting 
the Psalms of David, and offering incense in com- 
memoration of the gifts presented by the wise men 
at Bethlehem to the infant Jesus. It was tran- 
quillizing in its influence and romantic in the 
reminiscences it awakened. 

FOURTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Rev. J. C. Smith, D.D., pastor. It being the 
27th anniversary of the organization of this church, 
the pastor gave it more than ordinary interest by 
preaching an historical discourse adapted to the 
occasion. Before entering upon his subject he 
opened a manuscript book, which he said was 
entitled '^ Memorials of the Dead," containing the 
names of all the individuals who had died within 



OF V.'ASIIINGTOX. 47 

his pastoral charge in Washington. From this he 
read an obituary notice of one of his deceased 
elders, by the name of Grallaudet. The deceased 
had been a revolutionary soldier, and was with 
Washington at the battle of Princeton. He was 
the father of the lamented T. H. Gallaudet, of the 
deaf and dumb asylum memory. Mr. Gr. possessed 
a philanthropic character ; he originated the plan 
of founding an asylum in this city for homeless 
and vagrant boys, for which he collected some 
$3,000. He died in 1843, at the advanced age of 
88 years. 

Dr. Smith's sermon was founded on Isaiah 
xlii. 16 : 

"And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not ; I 
will lead them in paths that they have not known ; I will make 
darkness light before them and crooked things straiglit. These 
things will I do unto them and not forsake them." 

From the many statistics and interesting facts 
contained in a sermon of more than ordinary length 
we gather the following : That the church v/as 
organized in 1828 of twenty-three members ; that 
they extended a call to the Rev. J. N. Danforth to 
become their first pastor, and that he entered upon 
his labors in November of that year. Through the 



48 CHUKCHES AND PASIOHS 

first few years of its history we see this little com- 
pany of believers worshipping for a time in the 
school-room of one Mr. Brasher; and, in 1829, 
emerging from thence into a new and convenient 
wood-frame meeting house to hear the dedication 
sermon from the late Rev. John Breckinridge, D.D. 
In 1832 their pastor, after five years of faithful 
and successful labor, entered another field, leaving 
them with an addition of 117 members, which, 
with the original number, made them 140 strong. 
Mr. Danforth's withdrawal made the occasion for 
the call extended to the Rev. Mason Noble, who 
brought to his work the energy of a young man of 
fervent piety and good ability, who served the 
church with still greater success, apparently, than 
his predecessor. Having a commodious house of 
worship already for him to enter, and many of the 
difficulties overcome which are peculiar to the 
infancy of a church, Mr. Noble, in the seven years 
of his ministry, led nearly two hundred new mem- 
bers into this fold of Christ. Accepting a call from 
a church in New York city, Mr. N. was succeeded 
by the present pastor, who was installed on the first 
of October, 1839, now more than sixteen years 
ago. Through the series of years in which Dr. 



OF WASHINGTON. 49 

Smith has been pastor he has received 678 meiii. 
bers into the communion and fellowship of this 
church, of whom 51 have died, some have been 
excommunicated, but a greater number dismissed 
to other churches of the same sect which have 
been growing up in this community. 

The spacious church edifice in which this con- 
gregation now worship was dedicated on the 20th 
of June, 1841. Sermon by the Rev. E. N. Kirk, 
now of Boston, Massachusetts. There were many 
other facts and statistics given in this discourse 
which our limits will not allow us to give in this 
place, but vvdiich we should suppose each member 
of the church especially would like to preserve, 
and for this reason alone we presume its publica- 
tion will be called for. 



Dr. J. C. Smith preached in the morning from 
Deut. xxxiii. 27 : 

** The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the ever- 
lasting arms." 

The object of the discourse appeared to be to 
illustrate the protecting care of our Heavenly 
Father for his dependent people. By laying his 
8 



50 CHUllCHES AXD PASTORS 

everlasting arms beneath them He makes their 
strength equal to their day. In doctrine Dr. 
Smith subscribes cordially, no doubt, to the creed 
of his sect ; but he has a mode of presenting God 
as a father more than as a sovereign, whose wrath 
we are to appease ; more as a friend than as a 
judge, whose name is only to be mentioned with 
dread. He appears inclined to illustrate the good- 
ness of God and our obligations to appreciate his 
mercy and kindness by obedience and love to him 
who first loved us. Instead of removing God far 
off from his creatures, by dwelling on his power 
and other infinite and incommunicable attributes ; 
instead of presenting Him on his throne, with scep- 
tre in hand, who, like the sovereigns of antiquity, 
could not be approached with a sense of sympathy, 
he teaches us to regard God as '• Our Father who 
art in Heaven," whom we are to approach with the 
confiding assurance of mercy and forgiveness, as 
disobedient children return to their father's house. 
If his discourses are not constructed by the severest 
rules of logic, they are relieved of the sameness 
which is often produced by a more strict adherence 
to scholastic theology. His illustrations are oftener 
drawn from real life than from classic lore : and if 



OF WASHINGTON. 51 

the people are not entertained with so mach about 
the " original" languages, they are entertained 
with what they can understand and know to be 
true. This forms one of the reasons why his am- 
ple church edifice is always well filled with atten- 
tive hearers. On listening to Dr. Smith's sermons 
one would suppose he had learned to preach of 
him who said, "Or what man is there of you 
whom, if his son ask bread, will he give him a 
stone ? Or, if he ask a fish, will he give him a 
serpent ? If ye, then, being evil, know how to 
give good gifts unto your children, how much 
more shall your Father which is in Heaven give 
good things to them that ask him ?" Besides dis- 
charging the duties of pastor to his own church, 
his labors have been " more abundant" in estab- 
lishing other churches and in obtaining for them 
faithful pastors. 

BAPTIST CHURCH, 

NAVY YAIiD. 

Rev. S. \Y. Greer, who has just entered on his 
labors, preached Sabbath morning. In the afternoon 
were held the services of his installation. Rev. 



02 CHUKCilES AND PASTOHS 

Dr. BiNNEY, President of Columbian College, de- 
livered an able discourse on the requisites of a 
genuine Christian character. The charge to the 
pastor was delivered by Rev. Mr. Teasdale. 
Rev. Mr. Samson presented the right hand of fel- 
lowship, Rev. Mr. Mirick addressed the church. 
R,ev. Joseph Hammitt, of Philadelphia, now agent 
of the Columbian College, preached at night. 



FOUNDRY M. E. CHURCH. 

Rev. Mr. Register, pastor, preached in the 
morning, and at night on the physical, intellectual, 
moral and religious training of children. In these 
two discourses v/ere comprised the duty of parents 
to their children, and children to their parents ; 
the relation in which Sabbath schools stand to the 
Church, and the duty which Christians ought to 
perform in Sabbath schools. The speaker fur- 
nished ample evidence that the subject had been one 
of study, and was derived from the mature con- 
victions of his mind, and not a mere effort at dec- 
lamation. No parent, nor teacher, nor attentive 
child, could have listened to these discourses and 



OF WASHINGTON. 63 

not be profited. His text for the entire day was 

found in Ephesians vi. 4 : 

"And ye, fathers, provoke not your children to wratli ; but 
bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." 

These discourses were delivered in accordance 
with an arrangement for all the Methodist clergy- 
men in Washington and vicinity, to take the Sab- 
bath school cause into special consideration, and to 
make collections for the purpose of advancing Sab- 
bath school interests, where sympathy and co- 
operation are most needed in this behalf. This 
Christian effort was made most appropriately to 
follow the interesting exhibitions and exercises of 
the preceding week. On Thursday of last week, 
the children and teachers connected with all the 
Methodist churches which comprise the Potomac 
district, came together in this city ; and, after 
forming into line in Lafayette square, m.arched 
with music and banners in at one gateway, which 
leads to the White House, and out at the other, 
passing uncovered through the portico of the exe- 
cutive mansion, in token of respect for the nation's 
Chief Magistrate, and " for all in authority." Nor 
was the President unmindful of so grand an exhi- 
bition, so full of promise to the country and to the 



64 CHUKCHES AND PASTORS 

cause of morality and virtue. We record it with 
gratitude, that from the day that President Pierce 
took up his residence in Washington to the pres- 
ent time, he has not merely responded favorably, 
when solicited, but has volunteered his presence 
and his contributions in every place where such 
presence and such contribution gave indications 
of encouragement and usefulness to benevolent 
and religious enterprises. After this long proces- 
sion of children and teachers (numbering in all 
some 2,500) had marched through the avenue to 
the Capitol Grounds, and there listened to reports 
and addresses, the several schools from other towns 
were kindly invited to partake of rest and refresh- 
ments at the several Sabbath school rooms of the 
Methodist churches of the city, which act of hos- 
pitality formed one of the interesting features of 
the occasion. From thence the visiting schools 
returned to their several homes, much gratified 
Avith their visit to Washington. 



OF washingto:n'. od 

FRIENDS' MEETING, 

CORNER OF I AND XINETEKXTH STREETS. 

Sabbath morning we attended public worship in 
the Friends' " Meeting-house,'' where we heard 
no jarring discord in the music, for there was none; 
no pointless wandering prayer of half an hour's 
length, for no audible prayer was offered ; no pass- 
ing by the plain teachings of Christ on repentance 
for sin and faith in his mission, nor a metaphysical 
argument about the pre-Adamic state, or the un- 
changeable predestinations of Grod ; no overlooking 
the manifestations of God's love to man, and the 
reasons why we should love God, in an attempt to 
reveal the mysterious workings of God's moral 
government, and at what point the decrees of God 
and man's free agency are to be conjoined to se- 
cure salvation ; no mystifying and placing beyond 
the reach of a mind in love with virtue and true 
holiness, the examples and soul-elevating influ- 
ences of Christ's character, in an attempt to make 
the people understand certain theological theories, 
which were never placed within human compre- 
hension ; no giving a higher importance to sys- 
tems of religious belief than to the formation of 



56 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

a true Christian character — all for the plain reason 
that there was not an audible word spoken through 
the time of worship. Having, therefore, no exter- 
nal aids to our devotions, no outward excitement 
of any kind, we were thrown back upon our indi- 
viduality, and made to depend on our own resources 
for instruction. To save the morning hour from a 
vacuum, then, we commenced discoursing men- 
tally on a subject suggested by the circumstances 
in which we were placed, from the most solemn 
text, to us as individuals, to be found within the 
lids of the Bible. " So, then, every one of us shall 
give an account of himself to God." (Rom. xiv. 12.) 
We then proceeded as follows : " Grod is a spirit." 
Acceptable worship is to do it '' in spirit and in 
truth." Says the Apostle, " If any man have not 
the spirit of Christ he is none of his." The same 
Apostle says to Christians, " But ye are not in the 
flesh, but in the spirit ; if so be the spirit of God 
dwell in you." And again, " Know^ ye not that 
ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of 
God dwelleth in you? the temple of God is holy, 
which, temple ye are ;" " and if any man defile the 
temple, him will God destroy" — all pointing to our 
individual responsibility and our accountability. 



OF WASHIXGTOX. 57 

So far, then, as the usual services of the Sabbath, 
variously conducted in our several churches by 
the various religious sects, render us any aid in 
seeking after the right Spirit, and in awakening an 
impressive sense of our individual accountability 
and fear to sin, a love for Christ and for virtue, — 
so far as they are the means of strengthening our 
purposes to carry on the great moral conflict with 
self within us and with the world without, purify- 
ing our natures, and lifting us up to a communion 
with the Holy One, so far they are useful. Fa- 
vored with no "testimony," our silent communing 
with ourselves was not lengthy, and we had half 
an hour at least to spend in the next nearest 
church. 

SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Rev. J. R. Eckard, pastor, preached in the 
morning, on the re-opening of the church, a re- 
dedication sermon of more than ordinary interest, 
of which the foUowinor is an outline : 

o 

His discourse was based on Psalm xxx. 4, 5. 
After some remarks on the Psalm itself, as inter- 
preted by its inscription, he applied it to the pres- 
ent condition of the church, noticing, 1st, that 



58 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

they were engaged in an act of re-dedication ; 2d, 
that in former days the church had experienced 
great vicissitudes and depressions ; 'Sd, that they 
had been raised by God to a state of prosperity and 
bright hope for the future The statements made 
by him in regard to the history of the church, 
were of general interest to this community. About 
the year 1819, there were some twenty or thirty 
members of the Bridge street church of G-eorge- 
town residing in Washington. Finding it difficult 
to go so far to worship, they were encouraged by 
their pastor, the Eev. Dr. Balch, to attempt build- 
ing a church for themselves. The effort began 
with a prayer-meeting of some fourteen persons, 
held by the Rev. Thomas Balch, son of the vene- 
rable pastor at Georgetown. The present site was 
purchased, and the building, which has been re- 
fitted, was erected. When it was erected, the tract 
around was a mere common. To the north, about 
where Franklin square is, were bushes and low 
trees, which extended to the hills that bound the 
city. The house at the southwest corner of H and 
13th streets then stood, with seven oak trees near 
it, from which it was called the Seven Oaks. For 
some time the church enjoyed great prosperity : 



OF WASHINGTON. 69 

then came a season of painful reverse ; difficulties 
arose which reduced the church almost to extinc- 
tion. Of those difficulties the pastor wished not to 
speak ; they belonged to a former state of things. 
Not only have their causes entirely ceased for years 
past, but those who produced them are gone. A 
very united and harmonious society have long been 
in their place. The pastor put in contrast two 
former seasons. One was a time when the then 
President of the United States, and all his Cabinet, 
were pew-holders in the church. The aisles were 
frequently filled ; members of the congregation had 
to go early to church, to get seats in their own 
pews. The other was a time when for months the 
church was locked up — there was no worship — 
silence prevailed, instead of praise and prayer. 
Dust settled on the pews and the pulpit, and the 
edifice seemed mouldering to ruin. On the Sabbath 
when he first attempted to hold services there, one 
gentleman, a member of the church, accompanied 
him to the place. They two waited for some time 
for others, and then went away. On the evening of 
that day, thirty-four persons were present, of whom 
thirty had been requested to come from other 
churches, to make the appearance of a congrega- 



60 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

tion. From that time onward there had been im- 
provement, until the mercy and goodness of G-od 
had at last brought them to their present condition, 
which promises so well for permanent prosperity. 

The remainder of the discourse was practical. 
It indicated the worship of heaven as the model to 
be followed by churches on earth. 

There has been a regular progression in the im- 
provements made during the last year in this 
church edifice. The work was commenced by 
giving to the building a steeple spire and a coating 
of paint ; then, to the internal improvements was 
added an organ, of dimensions adapted to the size 
of the church, which gave a new impulse to 
the singing, and improved it to a soul-inspiring 
standard of sacred music. And now convenient 
pews or slips have taken the place of those straight- 
backed seats, so poorly adapted to favor the slight- 
est inclination to recline on the part of the wearied 
attendant. These internal improvements have 
been completed by the reconstruction of the pulpit ; 
and the lights and shades of fresco painting which 
now adorn the room, present an air of comfort and 
elegance quite attractive to the eye. Such is the 
series of improvements which this place of worship 



OF WASHINGTO>^. 61 

has undergone, the consummation of which called 
for a dedication on Sunday morning. 

At five o'clock P.M., Rev. Dr. Gurley, pastor 
of the F street Presbyterian church, preached a 
deeply impressive and interesting discourse, on the 
nature and qualifications of profitable and accept- 
able worship, from John iv. 24 : 

" God is a Spirit ; and they that worship him must worship 
him in spirit and in truth." 

It was pleasant to see the manifestation of so 

much co-operative and kindred feeling as appeared 

in the pastors of neighboring churches, together 

with their congregations, many of whom were in 

attendance on this occasion. Rev. J. Gr. Butler, 

of the Evangelical Lutheran church. Eleventh 

street, took part in the exercises. 



Rev. J. R. Eckard preached in the morning 
from Romans vii. 9 : 

" For I was alive without the law once, but when the com- 
mandment came, sin revived and I died.'' 

The speaker started off with some account of the 
author of his text — once an unrelenting opposer of 
the religion which he subsequently suffered so 



62 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

much to promote — and what effected the change, 
so great a change, as to induce a persecuting Saul 
to become the persecuted Paul ; and then, with a 
fine effect, allowed the Apostle to relate some of 
the trials he had passed through in spreading the 
truth he once despised, in his own words: "In 
labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, 
in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the 
Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 
Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, 
thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have 
1 been in the deep. In journeyings often, in perils 
of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in 
perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils 
in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils 
among false brethren. In weariness and painful- 
ness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in 
fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides 
those things that are without, that which cometh 
upon me daily, the care of all the churches." This 
newly-repaired church is at the juncture of New 
York avenue and H street. Besides giving it a 
more meeting-house-like finish externally, the so. 
ciety have recently placed an organ of appropriate 
size in the orchestra, which renders substantial aid 



OF WASHINGTOI^. 63 

to the choir in discoursing sweet music. The vene- 
rated name of J. Q,. Adams is still attached to one 
of the slips, for which he paid a large price in order 
to aid the society. Mr. Eckard, some ten years in 
the employ of the Board of Foreign Missions in Cey- 
lon, returned to his native land with his companion, 
who was broken down in health ; and, reaching 
Washington, found this small parish most emphati- 
cally missionary ground. The house having been 
closed and the church scattered, only a little handful 
were found " with a mind to work." But that little 
handful now see a respectable congregation gath- 
ered round the altar which had been forsaken, ap- 
preciating their good pastor, who has been tried 
under many circumstances, and whose faith fails 
not. Mr. Eckard's style of preaching is entirely 
natural, almost conversational. Those who go to 
church with minds sufficiently awake to receive 
the ideas of an intelligent and correct minister, 
correct in facts and in the theology of his faith, 
will find in him no want of perspicuity or precision, 
but hastening directly to the point, which he ap- 
plies earnestly, plainly, and sometimes personally, 
to each of his hearers. Bat those who attend 
church in passive submission, to be moved by some 



64 CHURCHES AND PASTOES 

extraordinary action in the speaker's manner or 
some captivating intonation of his voice, will not 
be likely to stop long at the Second Presbyterian 
Church. 

E STREET BAPTIST CHURCH. 

Hev. G. W. Samson, pastor, preached in the 
morning from Matthew viii. 17 : 

" Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses." 

Allusion was made in the introduction to a 
series of two or three discourses on sickness, and 
religious duty in reference to it, and also to two or 
three discourses following, on Christ the Son of 
Man, and the Son of " Grod manifest in the flesh," 
partaking our trials, with power to overcome them. 
This discourse was introduced by the statement 
that the sick need sympathy and relief — the first 
of which man may give, but the latter Grod alone. 
The demand of human nature ever has been for 
one who, from partaking both natures, affords both 
these requisites. The statement of Matthew and 
of Isaiah, from whom he quotes, is that there are 
two evils which we need to have removed, " in- 
firmities" of spirit and " sicknesses" of body ; and 



OF WASHINGTON". 65 

there are two ways in which Christ is the Physi- 
cian of body and soul. He takes as a man and 
shares in sympathy with us both these evils, and 
by Divine power he bears these away as a bur- 
den, giving us relief. The first point led to special 
discussion of the fact that spiritual evil always is the 
precursor of natural evil ; that the sin of the soul 
is the ultimate cause of all suffering to the body. 
The second point presented Jesus Christ as '' God 
manifest in the flesh" — the Creator, submitting to 
his own laws, and, in his peculiar manifestation in 
Christ, really touched with the feeling of our in- 
firmities, having been tempted in all points as we 
are ; while the moral effects of this exhibition 
of his condescension draw all men unto him, lead- 
ing first to a moral renovation, which corrects 
gradually all other evils, while it entirely takes 
away the sting of suffering. 

It is a position which cannot be doubted, that 
our doctrinal views do much towards directing our 
steps in practical life. A bigot is one who repels 
from his mind every idea, come from whence it 
may, which has not been petrified by his creed. 
Mr. Samson is not a bigot. He most evidently 
believes that, even though a man may have great 



66 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

errors in his religious theory, yet, by carefully 
studying with an honest mind the teachings of 
Christ, he may form a far higher and more useful 
character than the one which might perchance be 
moulded by the formulas of his church ; and that 
the sick-room and the death-bed, where theories 
are often displaced by realities, are a fruitful 
source of truth and usefulness. From this and 
previous discourses, it will be seen that the calam- 
itous scenes of sickness and death which are now 
shrouding some of our neighboring cities in gloom 
and sadness, do not escape the speaker's mind, 
leading him, in dividing the word of truth, to give 
a portion of meat in due season.* Although com- 
paratively a young man, yet, (including the time 
he spent abroad) Mr. Samson is now one of the 
oldest pastors in Washington. With a mind liber- 
alized by learning, by an extended acquaintance 
with the world in foreign lands, as well as his own, 
and by a close study of the gospel which he 
preaches, imbibing the spirit of its Divine author, 
he teaches the religion that the people need. Be- 
sides discharging the duties of his pastorate with 

*-' Referring to that sweeping epidemic at Norfolk and Ports- 
mouth, Va. 



OF WASHINGTON. 67 

indomitable indastry, Mr. S. takes a deep interest 
in the renewed efforts to make Columbia College 
equal to the demand of the times and the people 
among whom it is located, as a Protestant rather 
than a sectarian institution. With a progressive 
mind and good health, and with his whole soul 
given to the work of the ministry, Rev. Mr. Samson 
will be likely, if his life be spared him to the com- 
mon age, to make a strong impression as a Minis- 
ter of Christ, especially on the people of his 
charge. 

McKENDREE CHAPEL. 

Rev. GrEORGE HiLDT, pastor, preached from Ro- 
mans i. 16 : 

" For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.'' 

The speaker proceeded to give his own reasons 
for not being ashamed of the Grospel : 1st. Because 
it is true, as proven by the fulfilment of prophecy 
and the working of miracles ; 2d. Because of its 
power to regenerate, reform and save from the 
second death ; 3d. Because of what it reveals 
about the life to come — " life and immortality are 
brought to light through the gospel." 



68 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

Mr Hildt is yet within the first 3^ear of his pas- 
toral charge of this church. Having been in the itin- 
erant ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
some thirty years, and having filled many important 
positions, such as the presiding eldership of episco- 
pal districts, &c., he brings with him much experi- 
ence, as well as the intelligence of a general 
reader. Mr. H. belongs to the old school of Meth- 
odist preachers. He forms a connecting link be- 
tween the present and the past in the history of 
Methodism. Although there never has been a time 
since the days of Wesley, when there were not 
men of learning and ability in the Methodist 
Church, yet now, with their schools and colleges 
in almost every State in the Union, and one or 
more theological seminaries, it v/ould be strange, 
indeed, if there were not scores of young men 
entering the ministry from these seminaries of 
learning, who surpass some of their elder brethren 
in preparing seimons, with appropriate exordiums 
and logical argument, or deduction of the doctrine 
contained in the text, and in the application, &g. 
Yet with all their superior attainments in popular 
education and sacred literature, the past history of 
the Methodist Church furnishes us with the right 



OF WASHINGTON. 69 

to inquire as to whether they bring with them any 
more of that peculiar endowment by which the 
older preachers were enabled, in the language of 
the noted Lorenzo Dow, to " stir up the people to 
seek an interest in Christ" ? With very little aid 
from schools, they sought not only to preach the 
truth, but they most earnestly sought, as an indis- 
pensable preparation for their work, to feel and to 
be filled with that truth. Coming in the fulness 
of a spiritual baptism, the speaker's voice, yea, his 
very countenance, become the medium through 
which that feeling was communicated to others. 
It appears to be this feeling in the speaker's own 
mind, this deep sense of the value of the "great 
salvation" to dying men, as much or more than 
the words uttered, that ^'stirred up the people." 
The pastor of McKendree Chapel, after arranging 
his pulpit themes as best he can, most evidently 
waits yet " for the promise of the Father" to be 
fulfilled, depending more on a spiritual influence 
to produce the desired effect than upon preaching 
the gospel "in word only." Hence the McKen- 
dree Chapel is filled from Sabbath to Sabbath to 
its utmost capacity, to hear a man who appears to 
feel and enjoy the G-ospel he preaches to others. 



70 CHUKCHES AND PASTORS 



UNITxVRIAN CHURCH. 

Rev. Mr. Conway preached his last sermon be- 
fore a vacation of several weeks, from John xvii., 
part of the 7th verse : 

" I tell you the truth ; it is expedient for you that I go away 
from you ; for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto 
you." 

The speaker, after tracing the Paraklete of the 
original and Comforter of the translation to their 
primitive significance of " added strength," went 
on to interpret the words of Christ, as a call to the 
disciples to a greater reliance on their interior self- 
hood, which could not be strong until, by his 
leaving, they should be cast on their own facul- 
ties. This was illustrated by the fact that, whilst 
Jesus was with them they were weak enough to 
betray and deny him, and in peril " they all for- 
sook him and fled ;" but after his death we find 
the same gathered with new strength, and, by the 
aid of the Comforter, three thousand were united to 
their number. The similar danger of a depend- 
ence on something outward — a book, or creed 
or church service, or Sundays — render the words 
pertinent to Christians now. The germs of all 



OF WASHINGTON. 71 

good lie in man ; the highest possibilities, if he will 
only turn within ; and this can be only by his be- 
ing cast on his own resources. 

The pastor of this church is young to sustain 
the responsibilities of his position, maintaining 
alone among the ministers of this city, doctrines 
which, according to the popular standard, are not 
orthodox. He maintains that religion is not 
exotic, but indigeneous ; that Christ made no 
vicarious atonement, there being no need of any on 
the grounds of offended justice ; that the govern- 
ment of Grod is parental, rather than judicial and 
condemnatory ; that Christ is the moral hero of 
the world, and presented a model life for all man- 
kind ; that, having the nature and power within 
us, we are " to walk even as he walked." Mr. 
Conway would, therefore, have us look v/ithout 
only for an example, and look within for the power 
of conforming to it. For this reason only he di- 
rects men to Christ, as '' the way, the truth and 
the life." There is a freshness and originality of 
thinking, and an earnest heartiness of speaking, 
which convey the impressions of an honest pur- 
pose and sincere belief, and which secure and fix 
the attention of his hearers. The questions on 



72 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

which Mr. C. differs from the standards deserve 
serious consideration ; and, since they are believed 
by a congregation of hearers, we do not regret that 
they are preached with a plainness of speech 
which does not render them liable to be misunder- 
stood. 



Rev. Mr. Conway delivered a discourse on the 
life and character of the lato Hon. William 
Cranch, LL.D., Chief Justice of the District of 
Columbia, from Psalm i. 3 ; 

" He sball be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that 
bringeth forth its fruit in its season ; its leaf also shall not fall, 
and whatsoever it beareth shall prosper." 

It has been very justly said that every good 
man's life, of vrhom we may have sufficient knowl- 
edge as to feel the force of his character, adds to 
our stock of moral wealth, which may lie in our 
possession like the wealth of the miser, unim- 
proved ; or it may be so used by us as to lift us up 
to a state of moral excellence and grandeur, such 
as we should never have attained without that 
wealth, that life. For illustration, how many are 
better than they would have been, if St. Paul had 
never lived and died ? So of Luther, Calvin, 



OF WASHINGTON. 73 

Wesley, Howard, and a hundred others in all the 
various professions and walks of life. When these 
lives are completed, somebody near or remote must 
be improved. They imbibe the spirit and copy 
the example of the departed dead. Principles 
may enlighten us, precepts may instruct us, but 
it takes example to move and improve us. We 
are, therefore, laid under new obligations for the 
life of Judge C ranch, which he has left us, and 
which is now handed over to us for our improve- 
ment. And, so far as the author of this discourse 
has reproduced that life in his brief sketch, and 
the accompanying reflections, he has laid us under 
obligations to him, especially those of us who 
never saw Judge Cranch. 

CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION. 

Rev. Mr. Stanley, rector, preached on the bene- 
fits of Sunday-school instruction from Matthew 
xviii. 14. 

'• Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in Heaven 
that one of these little ones should perish." 

The speaker proceeded, among other things, to 

say that if Sunday schools were substituted for 
4 



74 CHUECHES AND PASTOKS 

parental instruction, to relieve parents of a duty 
in this behalf which none others could perform, 
then it might be maintained that Sunday schools 
were an injury, and not a blessing. But he con- 
tended that, according to his observation, such was 
not the fact. And he might have supported this 
position by the testimony of thousands of parents, 
who are actually urged by their children for such 
instruction as they themselves are often unable to 
give to the young inquirer after truth, that he 
might be prepared for the next Sunday school. 
Nor did the Sabbath school release the church from 
her duty to give that peculiar religious instruction 
which every one must receive before coming to the 
rite of confirmation and the communion. It was 
altogether an interestino; view of the care which 
our Father in Heaven has for children, it being not 
His will " that one of these little ones should per- 
ish," and a view of our duty growing out of a 
knowledge of that " will." The true character 
of a child was beautifully, as it was justly, de- 
scribed — its uncorrupted innocence, its confiding 
trust in the parent, its sense of dependence, its 
duty to obedience, and its demand for guidance. 
Mr. Stanley not only called for a contribution to 



OF WASniXGTON. 75 

increase books of instruction for their Sunday- 
school library, but he called on all in the congre- 
gation whose circumstances would permit, to give 
themselves to the work — a w^ork which promised 
no earthly reward, a work of benevolent action, 
that would enrich the giver in proportion as he 
benefited the receiver. 

The interior of this church edifice has been im- 
proved and adapted to evening service. The rector, 
with a gooil spirit, is laboriously active, and the 
membership are encouraged that they will yet see 
a full house of interested hearers. 



ST. PAUL'S ENGLISH LUTHEEAN CHURCH. 

Rev. J. Ct. Butler, pastor, preached on the par- 
able of the sow^cr, including several verses in the 
8th chapter of Luke. After listening to this dis- 
course it occurred to us that it would not be 
deemed out of place to give a more extended no- 
tice of the sect of which this church is the only 
representative (w^iose services are performed in the 
English language) in our city. The Lutheran is 
represented to be much the largest Protestant de- 
nomination in the world, numbering, according to 



76 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

accurate authors, from twenty-five to thirty mill- 
ions of souls. The government of the church is 
republican, the power with the people, exercised 
through their representatives in vestries, synods, 
&c. The doctrines of the church are those of the 
reformation, as set forth in a manner substantially 
correct in that noble document the Augsburg Con- 
fession — the trinity of persons in one Godhead, the 
proper and eternal divinity of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, the universal and total depravity of our 
race, the vicarious nature and unlimited extent of 
the atonement, justification by faith alone produc- 
ing a holy life. 

The Lutheran church requires of her members 
unity in essentials only, allowing in non-essentials 
liberty, and making charity the bond of perfectness. 
The growth of the denomination in this coun try since 
the introduction of the English language, has been 
very rapid ; the number of her ministers has more 
than doubled in about ten years, with a correspond- 
ing increase in her membership. The congregation 
at the Gothic edifice on the corner of 11th and H 
streets, was organized about ten years ago, and less 
than six years since, when the present pastor took 
charge, it numbered about twenty-five comrauni- 



OF WASHINGTON. 77 

cants, which have now been increased to about one 
hundred and fifty. It has just freed itself of an em- 
barrassing debt of from $6,000 to $7,000. With its 
flourishing Sabbath school and its spirit of enlarged 
liberality, entering into all the benevolent enter- 
prises of the day, it bids fair to become one of the 
largest and most efficient churches of onr city. 

RYLAND CHAPEL. 

SEVENTH WARD (iSLAND). 

Rev. a. Griffith, senior pastor, preached from 
St. John's G-ospol, xix. 30 : 

" He said, It is finished : and he bowed his head, and gave up 
the ghost." 

The text and subject were adapted very appropri- 
ately to the administration of the Lord's Supper, 
which immediately followed the sermon. In the 
examination of what was meant by those deeply 
pathetic words, " it is finished," the speaker went 
on to say that it implied more than the mere an- 
nouncement on the part of our Saviour that his 
earthly life was now finished ; but that the great 
plan of redemption, which prophets and kings had 
waited for through a long series of agef, was 



78 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

*' finished ;" that the event foreshadowed when 
Abraham offered ap his only son, '' from whence he 
received him in a figure," (Hebrews xi. 19,) when 
he was to faithful, believing Abraham as good as 
dead, that was " finished ;" that the scene so graph- 
ically described by Isaiah, who said, " He is brought 
as a lamb to the slaughter," that was " finished." 
Rev. Mr. Griffith being the oldest man in 
the city in the ministry, in which he has been 
actively engaged for nearly fifty years, we think it 
will not be deemed inappropriate to give, in this 
connection, the following facts, especially as he is 
fast nearing the close of that term which the 
*' itinerant system" of Methodism, to which he 
still adheres, allows him to remain at Ryland 
Chapel. Rev. A. Griffith entered the ministry in 
the Methodist Episcopal Church in the year 1806, 
and, with the exception of the short tin;e he stood 
in the relation of a supernumerary, he has been 
regularly engaged preaching w^ithin the limits of 
the Baltimore Conference ever since, and is now 
the oldest effective preacher in that large body of 
itinerant ministers. Mr. G. still retains ordinary 
good health for one of his years and toils, and contin- 
ues to share with his brethren the sacriiices of the 



OF WASHINGTON. 79 

itinerant system with unabated zeal and cheerful- 
ness. He also retains his mental faculties appar- 
ently unimpaired, and to his services and into his 
sermons he brings the benefits of long experience 
and a well-stored mind. He is, as ever, a student, 
and keeps himself informed of all that is new and 
peculiar in science and theology. Although he 
may be regarded as a good specimen of what is 
sometimes called '' the heroic as^e of American 
Method isnl," yet, from his critical knowledge of 
the discipline, economy, usages, and institutions 
of the Methodist Church, his brethren hold his 
opinions in high estimation, and have often returned 
him to represent them in the General Conference. 
It affords us pleasure to add, that if the senior 
pastor of Ryland Chapel always brings as much 
pointed practical truth and whole-souled interest 
into his services as he did last Sabbath, especially 
at the communion, we think every one should turn 
self-accuser who goes unprofited from his minis- 
trations. 



80 CHUECHES AND PASTORS 



METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH, 

NINTH STREET. 

Rev. p. L. Yv^ilson, pastor, preached from He- 
brews iv. 1 : 

"Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering 
into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." 

The speaker commenced by alluding to the great 
promise of the " rest which remains for the people 
of God ;" a rest, he said, which begins in this 
w^orld. 1. As to what is truth : "If any man will 
do His will, he shall know of the doctrine.-' Be- 
lieving and obeying, he shall experience the truth ; 
also, "an inward testimony," which amounts to 
an assurance, a " rest," that all will be well in the 
great unending future. 2. He presented the cau- 
tion, the warning, contained in the i^yA — " a prom- 
ise of this rest being left us, let us fear lest we 
come short of it." 

Rev. Mr. Wilson is yet in the first year of 
his pastoral charge of this church. He has al- 
ready realized not a little of that which is most 
gratifying to a minister of Christ — many im- 
portant additions to his flock. The Ninth street 



OF WASIIIXGTOX. 81 

Methodist Protestant Church was never, perhaps, 
pecuniarily nor spiritually, in a better condition. 
The church edifice and parsonage are out of debt, 
and, with ample gas-lights, accommodated to even- 
ing meetings. The church and congregation are 
enjoying the ministrations of a pastor, the logic of 
whose life and activity among the people, exceeds 
in force and influence the logic of his pulpit dis- 
courses. At the exhibition of their Sabbath school, 
on Thursday evening last, before an audience which 
filled the house to its utmost capacity, many parts 
of which presented subduing and deeply interesting 
scenes, more than a hundred dollars was realized 
in the contribution. One pleasing feature in the 
life-membership effort to raise this money, was to 
see the unanimity and liberality shown by the 
members of other churches, particularly by those 
of the Episcopal Methodist ; which only produces 
to our minds another evidence that the difference 
of feeling between this younger member and those 
of the older and stronger ones of the great Methodist 
family, is fast passing away. And why should it 
not? since the principal difference consists in this: 
the Methodist Protestant Church allows of lay rep- 
resentation in the law-making department of her 
4* 



82 CHURCHES AND PASTOES 

ecclesiastical bodies ; to which measure the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, in many parts of the 
country, appear to have an increasing inclination. 
We hope and trust the time is not far distant, when 
the Methodist churches of this city, and of this 
whole Union, will have but one fellowship, and be 
one in Christian effort. 

TRINITY CHURCH. 

This spacious edifice was filled to overflowing on 
Sunday night, to hear the Rev. G-eo. D. Cummins, 
rector, present to the young men the motives which 
the scriptures urge for leading a religious life. His 
subject was based on the choice of Moses, from 
Hebrews xi. 25, 26 : 

"Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, 
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ; esteeming the re- 
proach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for 
he had respect unto the recompense of reward." 

In presenting the motives to piety, the speaker 
made an impressive contrast between the pleasures 
of sin for a season, and the " hundred-fold" prom- 
ised by our Saviour to his followers in this life, and 
in the " world to come, life everlasting." 

The rector of Trinity Church holds a position of no 
ordinary responsibility and importance in this city. 



OF AVASIIINGTON. 83 

Among the six Protestant Episcopal churches, 
Trinity Church is the most central, as well as the 
largest. So few of the other churches holding 
service at night, it is not unfrequently that the 
adherents of the Episcopal church in the First 
"Ward, meet those of the same order from the Sixth 
and the Seventh at that of Mr. Cummins's, which 
is, to many, a third service. The Rev. Mr. Cuxaimins 
meets these large congregations, which assemble 
to hear his soul-stirring appeals in the church first 
occupied by the single-minded and devoted Dr. 
Butler, who had only to be known to be esteemed 
for his work's sake. How well the present rector 
fills the place, may be inferred from the large at- 
tendance on his ministrations, and the many addi- 
tions which have been made to the communion and 
fellowship of the church since he has had the pas- 
toral charge. 



SIXTH STREET PRESBYTERIAN" CHURCH, 

CORNER OF SIXTH STREET AND MARYLAND AYENUE. 

Rev. Mason Noble, pastor, preached the dedica- 
tion sermon of this newly-erected church edifice to 
the worship of Almighty God, from Hebrews x. ?5 : 



84 CHURCHES AND PASTOES 

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the 
manner of some is ; but exhorting one another ; and so much the 
more as ye see the day approaching." 

The speaker, ia a very clear and foroibie manner, 
defined the nature, duty, and benefits of public 
worship. We observed Senator Cass, and other 
distinguished men, among the auditors. 



Rev. Mr. Noble preached on the nature of the 
office of ruling elders, from 1 Timothy v. 17 : 

"Let the elders that rule well be counted ■worthy of double 
honor, especially they who labor in word and doctrine." 

After the sermon, two ruling elders, Messrs. Thos. 
Dutton and Chas. W. Fenton, were ordained. The 
pastor of this church is delivering a series of lec- 
tures on Sabbath evenings, expository of the book 
of Daniel. Sunda}^ evening his lecture was on the 
second chapter, which embraces Daniel's vision of 
the image. The lecture was historical, illustrative, 
and exceedingly interesting. A series of evening 
meetings are in progress in this church. 



Rev. a. D. Pollock supplied the pulpit left va- 
cant by Rev. MaSon Noble, now chaplain on board 



OF WASHINGTON. 85 

the flag-ship of the Mediterranean squadron. It is 
sincerely hoped that the good beginning which was 
made to raise a congregation and to corrjplete the 
church edifice, which is now a commodious place 
of worship, will be successful, and that the pulpit 
will be regularly supplied by a useful minister. 

GERMAN EVANGELICAL CHURCH. 

CORNER OF TWENTIETH AND G STREETS (FIRST ATARD). 

Rev. Samuel D. Finkle, pastor, preached on the 
condition of the righteous and the unrighteous in 
the spirit world, from Luke xvi. 31. 

" And he said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the proph- 
ets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the 
dead." 

By information obtained from the pastor of this 
church we are enabled to lay before our readers the 
following account of this church and congregation : 
In 1833 a small band of G-ermans, organizing 
themselves into a congregation under the above 
title, worshipped for a time in the City Hall, and 
then built their present house of worship, under the 

supervision of the Rev. Mr. and others of 

their people, which answered the requirements of 



86 CHUECHES AND PASTORS 

the congregation, under the care of its several pas- 
tors, for upwards of fifteen years. In 1853 it was 
found necessary to enlarge their church, which 
was speedily accomplished, and filled again with 
attentive hearers. They now number more than 
five hundred communicants. On the 27th of De- 
cember, 1846, the Rev. Samuel D. Finkle, after 
having preached a number of times previously (in 
English and German) to the congregation, entered 
upon his active duties as pastor. As the number 
of members increased, funds were collected, a par- 
sonage was built, a cemetery or place of burial 
was purchased, a school established, and a society 
formed to aid the congregation and council in pe- 
cuniary as well as other congregational aiTairs, and 
in matters pertaining to the school, which is now 
in a flourishing condition, under the tutorship of 
M. P. Matter. The next effort the congregation 
intend to make is by a collection and a Fair, a 
*' G-erman Fair," to erect a steeple, with a bell, 
and to obtain a good new organ for their church. 
From the usual enterprise and energy hitherto 
manifested by this people, we doubt not that in 
due time their designs in this behalf will all be 
accomplished. The church statistics for the last 



OF WASIIINGTOX. 87 

nine years stand as follows : Baptisms, 632 ; con- 
firmed, 150 ; married, 296 con pies ; funerals, 236. 

SHILO BAPTIST CHURCH. 

VIRGINIA AVEXUE, BETWEEN 4.} AND 6th STS., (ISLAND.) 

Elder Wm. J. Purington, pastor, preached 

from 1 Corinthians i. 29-31 : 

*' That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are 
ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and right- 
eousness, and sanctification, and redemption ; that, according 
as it is written, he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord.'' 

From this text the speaker taught the sover- 
eignty of God and the doctrine of predestination ; 
that repentance, like love to G-od, was one of the 
fruits of regeneration, and that it never preceded 
it, unless it was such as Judas had when he went 
out and hanged himself; that love to God was 
found in his chosen people only ; and that it was 
produced by electing grace through the vicarious 
sacrifice of Christ in his elect people, who were 
chosen in him before the foundation of the world . 
The speaker, who is evidently a close student of 
theology, and appears to possess a devoted and 
humble mind, presented his subject in an affecting 
and impressive light, producing a solemn and awe- 



88 CIIUKCIIES AND PASTORS 

inspiring view of the Supreme Ruler of the universe. 
This church is the only one in vYashington which 
represents a large and respectable set of Baptists 
known as the " old school " or " old line " Baptists. 
On account of their opposition to any modernizing 
or modification ot their views of predestination, 
and to many other modern institutions, they are 
often called, as a term of reproach, "hard-shell" and 
" particular" Baptists. They insist that their minis- 
ters should not confine their minds to written dis- 
courses, but that they leave themselves free to receive 
any new thoughts which the Holy Spirit may be 
pleased to give them " in that same hour." They do 
not allow the organization of any Societies auxiliary 
to the church. "While they oppose missionary soci" 
eties whose object is to send men to preach to the 
heathen, they do not oppose any man who desires, 
from his own sense of duty, to "go" to preach 
the gospel in other lands. While they do not unite 
with any Sunday-School "Unions," they are not 
opposed to such measures as will diffuse among 
children a better knowledge of the unexplained 
Scriptures. Although there are a few of these 
churches in nearly all the older States of the 
Union, yet they are most numerous in the South and 



OF WASHINGTO^^. 89 

Southwest, numbering altogether about 150,000 
members. The small wooden edifice in which this 
church worships in this city, together with the 
grounds around it, were donated to it some twenty- 
five years ago. Those who are attached to the 
views entertained by this people in their own re- 
spective States, when they corne to Washington, 
are pretty sure to find the ''Old School," or, as 
they prefer to be called, the Predestinarian Bap- 
tist, at the Shilo Church. Besides many good cit. 
izens, there were present on Sabbath morning two 
United States Senators, one of whom took part in 
the (congregational) singing with an apparent de- 
vout cordiality. It is to be hoped that the time 
is not far distant when this church will entertain 
the design of building a house of worship which' 
will aft^'ord ample accommodation^! for all who 
sympathize with them in their faith and order of 
worship. 



90 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

SEVENTH STREET (ISLAIJD). 

Rev. E. B. Cleghorn, pastor, preached from 
Isaiah v. 4 : 

" What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have 
not done in it?" 

Ill illustrating his subject the speaker enumer- 
ated the instances in which the Divine Being has 
manifested his interest in the moral improvement 
and salvation of our race, and 'the tendency of sin- 
ful man to disregard them ; and closed v^ith an 
appeal to his hearers to give more earnest heed to 
the solemn responsibilities accumulating upon us 
by the mercy and goodness of Grod. Mr. C. has 
just entered upon the duties of his pastoral charge 
in this new church, recently vacated by the Rev. 
Mr. Henry, who was their first pastor. He enters 
the ranks of laborers in the Lord's vineyard in this 
city with credentials which give promise that his 
labors will not be in vain. We should be inclined 
to place him in the Baxterian school of preachers. 
Relisfion bavins: taken strons hold of his own mind, 



OF WASHINGTON. 91 

he presents it in a strong light to others. It is to 
him not a theme of speculation, but a solemn re- 
ality. He speaks with earnestness and to the 
point. 

Rev. E. B. Cleghorn, pastor, preached from 
2 Kings vii.3, 4: 

»" And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the 
gate ; and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we 
die? If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is 
in the city, and we sfcall die there ; and if we sit still here we die 
also. Now, therefore, come, and let us fall unto the host of the 
Syrians, and if they eave us alive we shall live ; and if they kill 
us we shall but die.' ' 

In the afternoon from Matthew ii. 2 : 

" For we have seen his star in the East, and are come to wor- 
ship him." 

On Tuesday evening of last week Mr. Cleghorn 
was ordained and installed pastor of this church 
by the Presbytery of Baltimore. Rev. Stuart 
Robinson preached the sermon. Rev. Mr. Kaufman 
gave the charge to the pastor, and Dr. G-urley 
proposed the constitutional questions and gave the 
charge to the people. Some six months since Mr. 
C. came into this city a stranger, and was taken 
by the hand of kindness by his brethren, especially 



92 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

by the pastor of the F street Presbyterian church. 
He was pointed to this small church on the Island 
as a suitable field of labor for one who has a desire 
to do good. Into this field he soon entered, where, 
with a straightforward course and steadfast faith, 
he has labored on, until he has won not only the 
confidence of the people of his charge over whom 
he is now regularly settled, but the fellowship and 
brotherly affection of the Presbytery of whom he 
is now a member. 

METHODIST CHURCH SOUTH, 

EIGHTH STREET, BETWEEN G AND H — REV. DR. DOGGETT, PASTOR. 

Rt. Rev. Bishop Pierce, of Georgia, preached in 
the morning on the Deity of Christ, and the doc- 
trines predicated thereon, from John i. 14 : 

" And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we 
beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, 
full of grace and truth." 

At 4 o'clock, P.M., Rev. Mr. Hanell, of Alaba- 
ma, preached from Psalm Ixiii. 25: 

"Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon 
earth that I desire beside thee." 

The whole discourse well sustained the proposi- 
tion given out in the commencement, that the re- 



OF washikgto:n'. 93 

ligion of the Bible fully meets all the wants of the 
heart. The speaker said he was not about to pre- 
sent some revised edition of " a religion adapted to 
the times," but that it was his purpose to show 
that the religion of the Bible was universally 
adapted to the real moral wants of the heart in all 
time. He discoursed like a man of reading and 
reflection, presenting ideas somewhat original. 

At night, Bishop Pierce preached a second time. 
His text was from 1 Timothy i. 8 : 

" But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully." 

It is not our purpose to attempt, in the brief 
space allotted us, to give even an outline of the two 
discourses delivered by this able divine. We doubt 
not that he fully sustained the high reputation so 
generally awarded to him for biblical learning and 
pulpit oratory. That, like Timothy, he has from 
a child been a student of the Scriptures, must be 
evident to all who heard him speak, and saw the 
readiness (without the aid of notes) with which he 
brought the sacred text to his aid at every step, as 
he proceeded in the discussion of those topics which 
it is the most difficult to unfold clearly to the 
human understanding, such as the mysterious 



94 ' ' CIIUPvCHES AND PASTORS 

trinity of the Grodhead, the vicarious sacrifice of 
Christ, justification by faith alone, and the neces- 
sity of a renewal of the heart by the Holy Spirit. 
The two discourses were only parts of the same 
subject. Although delivered from different texts, 
they were predicated on the same first principles — 
the competency of Christ to make an atonement ; 
and (for the redemption of man) the necessity for 
it, in order that the law might be fulfilled by Christ 
and kept by regenerate man. The whole together 
might be regarded as a clear and forcible exposi- 
tion of the system of theology as taught by the 
orthodox, in distinction from Socinianism, and es- 
pecially by the whole Methodist family. But one 
prominent object of the entire day's effort was to 
raise, by donations, a sufficient sum of money as 
would be necessary to relieve this small society not 
only from a debt on the original purchase of their 
church edifice, but to complete their design of en- 
largement and improvement of both the interior 
and exterior of their house of worship. They have 
already reconstructed the interior, making a new 
pulpit, new, convenient, and cushioned seats, add- 
ing many more to the former number. They have 
given a very pleasant finish by new gas-light fix- 



OF WASHINGTON. 95 

tures, fresco painting, and other ornamental works 
which furnish convenient seats, in a room present- 
ing an air of neatness and good taste which it will 
be difficult to surpass. Although the subscription 
fell far short of the sum proposed to be raised, yet 
the amount actually donated was decidedly liberal, 
extending to about $1,500. Southern members of 
Congress gave (as if they were determined that 
there should be a Methodist Church South, as far 
north as Washington) from ten to fifty dollars each. 
The church membership worshipping here is small, 
but they have a faithful pastor in Rev. Dr. Doggett, 
and on this occasion the crowded house presented 
rather an imposing accession — with one of the most 
able and eloquent divines in the country in the 
pulpit, and an appreciating audience, embracing 
persons of a high order of intelligence, as well as 
those high in office, from our Chief Magistrate and 
many members of the National Legislature, to the 
single-minded inquirer after truth. Thus a new 
era has been made in this church — in this lone 
representative in Washington of that body of the 
great Methodist denomination who, in 1844, sepa- 
rated from the Methodist Episcopal Church proper, 
in order, as they say, that they may, by more sym- 



96 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

patliies and affinities with the institutions of the 
South than those which their northern brethren 
appear to possess, labor more successfully among 
their brethren of the Southern States than they 
could do if they were on terms of co-operation with 
those who know less of southern institutions. 



THIRTEENTH STREET BAPTIST CHURCH, 

KEY. DR. TEASDALE, PASTOR. 

This church edifice, notwithstanding the unusual 
storm, was dedicated to the worship of Almighty 
God in the presence of an interested audience, 
which numbered several of our most distinguished 
residents, among whom were President Pierce and 
sundry members of the National Legislature. The 
morning sermon was delivered by Rev. Dr. Fuller, 
of Baltimore, from 1 Corinthians ii. 2 ; 

"For I deterrained not to know anything among you, save 
Jesus Christ, and him crucified." 

The speaker's first inquiry was : Why did the 
Apostle come to such a determination ? Second, 
he assumed that the salvation of men is made de- 
pendent on knowing Christ as crucified ; knowing 
him as a sacrifice for us. To assert that the ser- 



OF WASHINGTON. 97 

mon contained great truths, forcibly expressed, is 
only saying what is characteristic of Dr. Fuller. 

The afternoon sermon was by Rev. Dr. Barrows, 
of Richmond, Virginia, from a clause in the seventh 
verse of the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah : 

" I will glorify the house of my glory," 

The speaker said that God's house now is his 
church ; that he glorifies it as it glorifies him ; that 
we glorify G-od by preaching and obeying the truth, 
and observing his ordinances. 

At night, the pastor preached on the attractions 
of the sanctuary, from Psalm Ixxxiv. 1,2: 

" How amiable are thy tabernacles, Lord of Hosts ! My soul 
longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord : my heart 
and my flesh crieth out for the living God." 

Among the attractions of the sanctuary, the 
speaker mentioned singing by a choir, which, he 
said, was designed to assist, and not supersede, 
congregational singing. 

This neat, and we may well say beautiful house 
of public worship, has been erected under the 
supervision and indefatigable labors of Rev. Dr. 
Teasdale. It is an ornament to the city, and a 
splendid addition, in architectural completeness, to 
the church edifices of Washington. It is built of 
5 



98 CHURCHES AND PASTOES 

brick, in a most substantial manner, and is one 
hundred feet in length by fifty-six in width. The 
basement, with its spacious lecture-room and other 
apartments, presents a pattern of utility. The 
seats in the main body of the house are all hand- 
somely cushioned, and the floors thoroughly car- 
peted. The fine-toned organ is from the house of 
Appleton & Co., of Boston. The steeple, wdiich 
rises so gracefully above the roof, was designed by 
Thomas U. Walter, Esq., United States architect, 
and is one hundred and sixty feet high. The bell, 
which sends forth such solemn "church-going'' 
peals, was donated by two citizens of North Caro- 
lina, and weighs 2,163 pounds. Everything con- 
nected with the final finish of the building, appears 
to be in good taste. It is certainly a matter of no 
little interest to the citizens of Washington, that 
such a public building should be carried forward 
to completion ; and it must be a matter of still 
greater interest to the new religious society which 
occupy it, whose members have shared so largely 
in the expenses of its erection, that the debt still 
remaining should be paid off. The greatest amount 
of the money expended in the erection of this church, 
l^as been collected by the pastor in other plaices. 



OF WASniNGTOX. 99 

We coulJ not help feeling a sympathy with Rev. 
Dr. Teasdale, when he alluded to the fact that 
after being kept away from his family and his 
people so much of the time, raising money in other 
parts, and having cherished the hope that the bal- 
ance would be raised here on the day of its dedica- 
tion, and he be enabled thereby to pass the re- 
mainder of the winter, at least, amid the comforts 
of home, and that after laying the corner-stone, more 
than two years ago, on so stormy a day as to pre- 
vent him from taking up a collection, and then dedi- 
cating the lecture-room on another day of such in- 
clement weather as to produce a like failure, — now, 
after one postponement, with the hope of having a 
fair day and a full house, they had after all this 
fallen on one of the most stormy days which has 
been known or perhaps will be experienced for a 
long time to come. Were we to venture on a sug- 
gestion, it would be that as soon as our citizens 
have assisted the poor through the hardest of the 
winter, the pastor of this church, on some moon- 
light evening, hold a kind of religious entertain- 
ment, when short addresses should be delivered by 
different individuals, where it should be expected 
that all who may be in attendance shall give some- 



100 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

thing, and thus join with the good people abroad 
who have so generously contributed to the erection 
of one of the handsomest public edifices in Wash- 
ington. Let us all lay aside our sectarianism long 
enough to unite in one such meeting, and thus all 
have a hand in this good work. Stormy as the 
Sabbath day was, our Chief Magistrate set the 
generous and noble example of placing his name on 
the card that was circulated, for fifty dollars ; and, 
after church was over, filled his carriage with 
ladies, and went home himself through a drifting 
snow-storm on foot. 

METHODIST PROTESTANT MISSION CHURCH, 

NAVY YARD. 

Rev. John R. Nichols, pastor, preached on two 
of the Christian graces enumerated by St. Peter in 
his second Epistle, first chapter, commencing at the 
fifth verse : 

" Temperance — Patience." 

Since this church has become a mission, and the 
present indefatigable missionary has entered upon 
his work, the congregation has not only increased, 
but the Sabbath school has grown up to about one 
hundred members. 



OF WASHINGTON. 101 



CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY, 

REV. J. W. FRENCH, RECTOR. 

Some twelve years since, this gentleman com. 
menced his ministerial labors in this city, in the 
relation of a missionary. He then collected a small 
congregation, who worshipped for a time in the 
building known as the Apollo Hall. Subsequently, 
his people built for him the commodious church on 
G- street, bearing the above name, which is now 
filled from Sabbath to Sabbath with an audience 
who appreciate his ministrations. That Mr, French 
will take rank among the thorough thinkers and 
readers in systematic theology, no one will doubt 
who gives him an attentive hearing. He not un. 
frequently announces a series of discourses to be 
delivered in the morning, with the design to illus- 
trate the less obvious and fundamental doctrines of 
Christianity, when, in the afternoon, his sermons 
will present a more practical character. Recently 
he has been delivering a series of sermons, to which 
we furnish a clue in the following brief outline. 
The first of them was from Romans v. 12 : 

"By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and 
so death passed upon all men.'' 



102 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

The proposition of the discourse VN^as, that the 
first transgression was the source of original sin. 
After having shown that one class of objections 
was, in fact, not against the scriptural statement, 
but rather against a mere theological hypothesis of 
the federal headship of Adam ; and after having 
stated that a second class of objections was against 
the proposition truly given in the Bible, viz., that 
all men are in a sinful and sulTerins' condition in 
consequence of the disobedience of Adam, he met 
this latter objection by the argument referred to. 
It was based on this fact, that each one of us has 
on others an influence similar to that objected to in 
Adam. " No man liveth to himself, and no man 
dieth to himself." The effects of no man's sins 
end with himself. The dependence of all men upon 
the first for their condition, is but an expansion of 
the fact seen in every human life. Every man, in 
a limited sense, is to those around him an Adam or 
a Christ. The conclusion drawn from this fact 
was, that if we object to the scriptural statement 
of our connexion with our first parent, we must go 
further, and oppose the whole ordaining of God for 
society and for all men. Of course, if the objection 
involves so much, it must be abandoned. The next 
discourses were from Genesis iii. 1-7 : 



OF WASHINGTON. 103 

"Now the serpent was more subtle," &c. 

The subject was, the first transgression not only 
a source of sm original, but a picture of all sin 
actual. 

GERMAN EVANGELICAL CHURCH, 

FOUR-AND-A-HALF STREET (iSLAND) . 

Rev. p. Meister, pastor. — This is a small brick 
church, recently built on the Island, for the bene- 
fit of those families in the Sixth and Seventh 
Wards, who reside at too great a distance from the 
Rev. Mr. Finkle-s church to attend on his minis- 
try. These two Grerman Reformed Churches teach 
doctrines similar to Presbyterians, Lutherans, and 
Episcopalians. Although they have a liturgy, yet 
their rituals are quite as simple as the before- 
named churches. Their meetings would be often 
attended by members of other evangelical churches, 
no doubt, were it not for the difference in language. 

GER. EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH 

OF THE UNALTEKED AUGSBUKG CONFESSION. 

FOURTH STREET, OPPOSITE THE JAIL. 

Rev. Wm. Nordman, pastor.— This congregation 
follow the views which they say were maintained 



104: CHURCHES AND PASTOKS 

by Dr. Martin Luther, and laid down in the un- 
altered Augsburg Confession, made in the year 
1555 J with such church ceremonies as were not 
condenmed, bat observed by that great reformer — 
such as having a high altar, surmounted with the 
crucifix, and with tapers which they burn on 
certain occasions, the use of the wafer at the sacra- 
ment of the Lord's Supper, a belief in consubstan- 
tiation, or the mysterious presence of the body and 
blood of Christ, together with the peculiar vest- 
ments of their clergy, &c. These usages, together 
with their decided opposition to Sunday school and 
all reformatory societies and institutions, give them 
as much distinctness from the reformed or pro- 
gressive churches of the city, as if they made no 
claim to being Protestants, or did not speak the 
same lans^uas^e with other German churches. 
They stand in about the same relation to the 
English or American Lutheran Churches (repre- 
sented by the Rev. J. G. Butler's on Eleventh 
street) as the Old School or Predestinarian Baptists 
(represented by the "Shilo" Church on Virginia 
avenue) do to the other general Baptist churches 
of Washington city. But, whatever may be their 
religious creed, who can doubt the good moral 



OF WASHINGTON. 105 

effect to these '' strangers and foreigners," as they 
come to this country, on the return of the day of 
rest, to unite in the worship of Grod as they were 
wont to do in the fatherland, to sing, in their own 
language, the same songs of Zion, and to join in 
the same reverential observances as those which 
lifted up their thoughts to the Father of Mercies 
in their childhood years ? While here, as in their 
own land, as they assemble together on the Sab- 
bath to worship the God of their fathers and the 
God of their innocent childhood, they are drawn 
by it to live in the fear of the Lord. How much 
better is this for them and their children than to 
do like too many, on coming to this land of religious 
freedom, (where the civil magistrate recognizes 
no creed as a crime, but where every man is held 
responsible to God only in matters of conscience, 
so long as it does not lead him to interfere with the 
rights of his neighbor,) use that freedom to abandon 
all religious observances, and with it the Sab- 
bath and the fear of God. But for the benefit of 
all who have never had their attention called to the 
subject, we will call attention to those last words 
in his farewell of the Rev. John Robinson, as he 
parted with that portion of his flock, at their '' em- 



5 



* 



106 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

barkation" at Delf Haven, who came "pilgrims" 
in the May Flower to Plymouth Rock in 1620, and 
who planted the first colony, formed the first 
church, and established the first school in Tsew 
England. Before kneeling down on the strand to 
commend them to G-od, as represented in the great 
painting in the rotunda of the Capitol, among other 
things he said : '• if Grod reveal anything to you 
by any other instrument of his, be as ready to re- 
ceive it as ever you were to receive any truth by 
my ministry ; for I am verily persuaded, I am 
very confident that the Lord has more truth yet to 
break forth out of his holy word. For my part, I 
cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the re- 
formed churches, who are come to a period in re- 
ligion, and will go at present no further than the 
instrument of their reformation. The Lutherans 
cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw; 
whatever part of his will our good Clod has revealed 
to Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it, 
and the Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they 
were left by that great man of God, who yet saw 
not all things." 



OF WASHINGTON. 107 



ASSEMBLY'S CHUEGII. 



Rev. Andrew G. Carothers, pastor, preached 
from Luke i. 3, 4 : 

" It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding 
of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most 
excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty 
of those things wherein thou hast been instructed." 

This was the third anniversary of the organiza- 
tion of this church. The pastor gave a history of 
its rise and progress and prospects. The projectors 
and builders were Rev. Dr. Smith, Rev. A. Gr. 
Carothers, and George S. Gideon, Esq. Corner- 
stone laid September 1, 1852. Session room dedi- 
cated January 16, 1853. Church organized with 
twenty members March 9, 1853. Pastor ordained 
and installed April 20, 1853. The officers at this 
time are Elders B. L. Bogan and R. T. McLain, 
Esq. Trustees : T. C. Donn, W. Lord, John W. 
Wells, R. Prentice, and Hugh W. McNeil. Whole 
number of communicants received 108. Ministerial 
visits 4,500 ; marriages 17 ; baptisms 63 ; burials 
60. Missionary society organized June 20, 1855 ; 
members 204. Sabbath-school scholars 125. After 
service at night the congregation remained and 



108 CHURCHES AND PASTOES 

appointed a committee to request the sermon for 
publication. The Eev. Dr. Smith preached at night 
from Psalm xxiv. 3 : 

" Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord ?" 



Kev. Andrew G. Carothers preached from St. 
John's G-ospel, iii. 12 : 

"If I hare told you earthly things and ye believe not, how 
shall ye believe if I tell j^ou of heavenly things ?" 

The speaker's object appeared to be to define 
certain fundamental doctrines, such as the sinful- 
ness of man's nature, the necessity of an atone- 
ment, and of regeneration. These are '• earthly 
things," or things which are plain to the human 
understanding, but which, through the darkness of 
the natural mind, were misunderstood and denied ; 
and, "through the ignorance that is in them," 
they were unable to understand " heavenly 
things," because they "are spiritually discerned." 
He rebuked the pretensions of those who, forgetful 
and neglectful of first principles, profess to be greatly 
wise in things above their comprehension, and ex- 
horted to an entrance into the kingdom by the door 
of repentance. The Assembly's Church is so called 



OF WASHINGTOISr. 109 

on account of the fact that so many other 
churches throughout the General Assembly of the 
(New School) Presbyterian Church of the United 
States made contributions to its erection. The 
church edifice, with its silver-toned bell, is a neat 
and ample structure, and furnishes a most valuable 
addition to the appearance of the more new and 
growing part of the city where it is located. Al- 
though the church has been built only about three 
years, there is already a goodly number who com- 
pose the regular congregation ; yet the plan of so 
spacious a building was no doubt wisely drawn with 
an adaptation to a growing city, and for the bene- 
fit of future generations, as well as for those who 
form its incipient era. Mr. Carothers, the pastor of 
this church, is comparatively a young man. Being 
a native of Washington, and a graduate of the Col- 
lege which, on an elevated margin, overlooks the 
cit}^, he forms an exception to the general rule that 
'' a prophet is not without honor save in his own coun- 
try." With precarious health, which hardly alTords 
him sufficient bodily strength to meet the toils of 
a pastor's life, he is found at his post manfully 
sustaining the moral conflict of a soldier of the 
Cross with a degree of success which gives evi- 



110 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

dence that he does not run in vain nor spend his 
strength for naught. The pastor announced, 
among his notices, that on Wednesday evening of 
this week, a Missionary Society, connected with 
the church, would hold their annual meeting, 
which will consist of various exercises of interest, 
where all persons interested are invited to attend. 

JEWS' SYNAGOGUE, 

FOUR-AXD-A-HALF STREET, OPPOSITE EAST EKD OF THE CITY HALL. 

To worship with this people, one must go as 
early as eight o'clock on Saturday morning (the 
Sabbath of the Jews). Here one will meet with 
men and women who have walked (for ride they 
will not on their Sabbath) all the way from George- 
town, to unite with their brethren of Washington 
in chanting their services, and in listening to a 
chapter from the Sacred Scroll, containing the 
Books of Moses, which they bring forth from vt^hat 
answers to the "holy of holies" in the ancient 
temple. Some of the more conscientious Jews 
close their places of business on Friday night, and 
keep them shut through the best day of the seven 
for trade, until, as one of them informed me, he 



OF WASHI^'GTOX. Ill 

could see three stars in the Saturday evening sky. 
Tlien, for the sake of law and order, they keep the 
first day of the week more strictly than some 
Christians ; so that, with the exception of Satur- 
day night, they have but five days of the week, in- 
stead of six, to trade as others do around them. 
But all are not thus conscientious. The Jews of 
this city, like Jews everywhere, have their temp- 
tations to contend with. They pay rent like others, 
and feel that they need as good a chance as others 
in order to succeed in business. They are there- 
fore induced to break their own Sabbath for profit, 
and the Christian Sabbath (which they do not 
sacredly regard) for pleasure. Then, again, it is 
only the more devout Jews who come up to the 
solemn assembly. It being only a plain hall in 
which they worship, not embracing all the gorge- 
ous drapery of a thoroughly-furnished Synagogue, 
some of their more opulent brethren (holding im- 
portant offices, perhaps, in our GeneralG-overnment, 
or members of the National Legislature) do not 
find their more humble brethren in their devotional 
exercises. Then there are many of their youth, 
especially the more aspiring young men, who do 
not habitually come to the Synagogue on their 



112 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

Sabbath day. Yet there are some twenty or more 
families who are determined, with all the integrity 
of Jews, to worship the God of their fathers, and 
continue to observe the ordinances commanded 
them by their great lawgiver, and continue looking 
for the fulfilment of that prediction left them by 
Moses : " A prophet shall the Lord your G-od raise 
up unto you of your brethren like unto me. Him 
shall ye hear in all things," &c. 

One who is at all familiar with the history of the 
past cannot fail to be interested in the efforts of these 
people to maintain their ancient worship in this land , 
in which they only are sojourners. To mingle with 
them in their worship, is to come into the presence, 
not only of Moses and the Prophets, but of Abraham. 
Some sects among us, which had their origin compar- 
atively in modern times, can hardly refrain from 
giving an almost sacred importance to the long 
series of years which they have existed, as well as 
to the distinguished endowments of their first pro- 
pagators. But, turning to the Jews, we leave 
every religious sect now on earth far behind us, as 
we travel back on the path of history to find their 
origin. When arriving within about 350 years of 
the universal deluge, we find a lone man leaving 



OF WASHINGTON. 113 

his kindred and his native land — Ur of the Chaldees 
— to sojourn '' in a strange country," where ha 
received a promise that his posterity '' should after 
receive it as an inheritance ;" here, passing through 
scenes well calculated to test his integrity, he be- 
came " strong in faith," and was called the ''father 
of all them that believe." This occurred not far 
from tv^ro thousand years before the Christian era, 
about 3,856 years ago. Leaving Abraham's day, 
we soon find in his posterity a large family, and 
then a nation fulfilling the promise made to their 
great progenitor, that they should equal the '' stars 
in multitude." About 1,491 years before Christ, 
or, as the Jews would say, in the year of the world, 
about 2,513, Moses came down from Mount Sinai 
with his face shining in such a manner that the Is- 
raelites could not steadfastly behold it, and delivered 
to them the ecclesiastical, civil, and moral laws, by 
the former of which they were to be governed so long 
as they continued to be a distinct church and nation. 
It will therefore be seen that, as far as the 
antiquity of the institutions of a sect present 
any claim to consideration, the Jews have more 
than all others. Wesley, Fox, Calvin, Luther, 
and even St. Peter, are all men of modern times 



114 CHURCHES AND PASTOES 

compared with Moses and Abraham. Although 
this people may no longer exist as a nation with a 
population to be numbered, as they once were, by 
millions, and dispersed as they now are among all 
nations, yet the little handful here among us are, 
as they everywhere are, still trying, as best they 
can, to adhere to the '^ laws of Moses," as they un- 
derstand them. We feel a religious regard, we 
trust, for these people. St. Paul informs us that 
he had (although in a far higher sense) the same 
regard, for which he gives the following reasons : 
^'Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the 
adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and 
the giving of the law, and the service of G-od, and 
the promises ; whose are the fathers, and of whom 
as concerning the flesh Christ came." We are in- 
debted to the Jews. Let us, then, be thankful 
that while they are among us, contending with 
many difficulties to keep "the law of command- 
ments contained in ordinances," they can do it with 
none to molest or make them afraid ; and let us 
labor to show unto them a " more excellent way" 
in the model life and character of Him who said, 
" I am the way, the truth, and the life," and who 
also said, " The hour cometh, and now is, w^hen 



OF WASHINGTON. 115 

the true worshippers shall worship the Father in 
spirit and in truth." 

UNION CHAPEL. 

Rev. F. Israel, pastor, preached from St. John's 
Gospel, xiv. 21-23: 

" He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is 
that loveth me,'' &c. 

The topic of this discourse was the nature and 
rewards of Christian obedience. The speaker main- 
tained that the ways in which God had manifested 
himself to Abraham, to Moses, and many others in 
ancient times, by '' signs and wonders and divers 
miracles," had given place to a less sight-seeing, 
and a more spiritual manifestation, as signified in 
the text: "Judas saith unto him, (not Iscariot,) 
Lordj how wilt thou manifest thyself unto us and 
not unto the world ? Jesus answered. If a man love 
me he will keep my words, and my Father will 
love him, and we will come unto him and make 
our abode with him ;" and that this manifestation 
is made in these last days, as said by the prophet 
Joel, " I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh" 
generally, and that it will " abide" in a special 



116 CHUECHES AND PASTORS 

manner with those who " love God and keep his 
commandments." 

Mr. IsRAEfi is a religious thinker as well as 
teacher. Looking at a subject until it becomes 
clear to his own mind, he presents it clearly as 
well as forcibly to others. His repose of manner 
in the pulpit bespeaks confidence in his preparation 
for the work before him ; and on entering into the 
discussion of his subject, he proceeds as if he believ- 
ed that a progressive religious life will be main- 
tained only by a conviction of its importance in the 
understanding as well as a feeling in the heart. He 
is most evidently leading the people of his charge 
into more comprehensive views of the relations and 
duties of Christianity ; and should the itinerant 
system chance to leave him in Washington until 
he could be heard more generally, we cannot doubt 
that the character of his preaching would be more 
highly appreciated, and would make a strong and 
useful impression, particularly in the Methodist 
church of this community. 



OF WASHINGTON. 117 



GRACE CHURCH, 

ISLA.ND. 

Rev. a. Holmead, rector, preached from Acts 
xxvi. 28 : 

"Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.'' 

The speaker so presented this subject as to make 
the attentive, respectful, moral members of his con- 
gregation, who allow few to go beyond them in at- 
tention to the externals of religious worship, feel 
that there is a possibility, after being almost Chris- 
tians all their lifetime, of not quite entering into 
the kingdom of heaven. It was an earnest, solemn 
appeal to all such persons to reflect and decide to 
choose whom they will serve. 

Rev. Mr. Holmead, some four or five years since, 
in the spirit of a missionary, without the remotest 
prospect of any earthly reward, commenced reading 
the church service and preaching to some dozen per- 
sons, more or less, in a small school-house on the Isl- 
and. The next season we happened to be present 
when the corner-stone of the neat and convenient 
church edifice in which he now worships was laid, 
in the presence of a large gathering of the clergy and 



118 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

people of the city. Now, if an earnest preacher, a 
faithful pastor, a convenient house of worship, a 
good choir in the orchestra, and an interested au- 
dience present evidence of success, then Grace 
Church furnishes signs of being permanently estab- 
lished. The Rector evidently is laboring from the 
love he bears to the cause of Christ, and is doing 
good in a position of the city where there was at 
the time he commenced his labors, a destitution of 
places in which to worship G-od on the Sabbath. 
All true Christians must feel gratified to see evan- 
gelical efforts of this kind successful. 

NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH, 

NORTH CAPITOL STREET, BETWEEN B AND C. 

There was no service on Sabbath morning, the 
congregation having joined the worshippers in the 
Capitol in listening to a sermon by Rev. \Ym. B. 
Hayden, of Portland, Maine. In the evening Mr. 
Hayden preached in the church, from Luke xvi. 31 : 

" And he said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the proph- 
ets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the 
dead.'' 

The New Jerusalem Church differs from the 

various sects of the present Christian church, re- 



OF WASHINGTON. 119 

marked the speaker, in one important particular. 
It claims to be a revelation of truth from Heaven, 
and not a system of doctrines excogitated from the 
mind of man. It presents facts, and not mere in- 
ferential opinions. But the objection was some- 
times urged that if Swedenborg was thus made the 
medium of a new revelation, his divine mission 
ought to have been attested by miracles. This ob- 
jection it was the object of the discourse to answer. 
Mr. H. proceeded to show, first, that miracles were 
not a sure test of truth. When Moses turned the 
water of Egypt into blood, " the magicians of 
Egypt did so with their enchantments." Second, 
miracles did not convert those who witnessed them 
to the true faith. The most stupendous miracles 
did not turn Pharaoh and the Egyptians from the 
worship of false gods ; and the .lews said that the 
Saviour cast out devils through Beelzebub, the 
prince of the devils. Third, the claims of a new 
revelation founded upon miracles would attract 
little attention at the present day. The New Jeru- 
salem Church makes no claim to miracles in its be- 
half. It presents a system of spiritual truths, and 
makes its appeals to the rational faculties of men. 
If the adaptedness of these truths to the nature and 



120 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

wants of mankind does not afford a sufficient attes- 
tation to their heavenly origin, " neither will men 
be persuaded though one rose from the dead." 

GORSUCH CHAPEL, 

greenleaf's point. 

Rev. Mr. Steel, pastor, preached from Genesis 
xlix. 4 : 

" Unstable as water thou shalt not excel" — 

on nature and cure of religious instability. 

And at Ryland Chapel, at night, from Hebrews 

ix. 27: 

" It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judg- 
ment." 

Many individuals arc commencing a religious 

life at this chapel. 

FLETCHER CHAPEL, 

CORNER OF NEW YORK AVENUE AND FOURTH STREET. 

A NEW chapel bearing this name, recently 
erected on the corner of Fourth street and New 
York Avenue, was solemnly dedicated to the 
worship of God. Services were conducted in the 
morning by Rev. Mr. Dashiell, in the afternoon by 



OF WASHINGTON. 121 

Rev. Mr. Brooks, of Greorgetown, and in the even- 
ing by Rev. Mr. Israel, of Union Chapel. 

PROVIDENCE CHAPEL, 

CORNER OF DELAWARE AVENUE AND I STREET. 

This is one of the out-post missions of the 
Methodist Church of this city. The few devoted 
individuals who have engaged in this mission en- 
terprise, have hitherto held their Sabbath-school 
and public worship in a dwelling-house. Last 
Sabbath afternoon, at three o'clock, those who 
have the care of the Sabbath-school held an anni- 
versary meeting. Among the speakers were the 
Hon. Mark Trafton, member of Congress, who 
delighted the audience for nearly an hour with an 
address on the proper training of children ; and 
John C. Harkness, Esq., of Washington, made a 
stirring appeal on the duty and privilege of giving 
liberally to support the mission ; after which a 
subscription was made, which amounted to nearly 
six hundred dollars, besides a lot, which was do- 
nated by one of the citizens, on which to build a 
chapel. 

6 



122 CHUKCHES AND PASTORS 

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 

CAPITOL HILL. 

Rev. Mr. Day, pastor. The lower part of this 
church was dedicated to the service of G-od on 
Sunday. Rev. J. McK. Riley, of Baltimore, 
preached in the morning from Psalm xx. 8 : 
•' In the name of God we will hang out our banners.'' 

At three o'clock P. M., Rev. G. F. Brooke 
preached from Ephesians iv. 21 : 

" As the truth is in Jesus." 

At night Rev. I. P. Cook discoursed from 

Isaiah Ivi. 7 : 

"For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all 
people." 

Much interest was manifested in the proceed- 
ings of the day by a large number of persons from 
all parts of the city. A collection and subscrip- 
tions were taken up after each sermon, amounting 
in the aggregate to $1,300. That amount re- 
duces the debt of the church to about $200. The 
trustees contemplate finishing as early as practi- 
cable the main room and exterior of the church. 



OF WASHINGTON. 123 

Rp:v. Bishop Waugh, D.D., preached a mission- 
ary sermon from Hebrews xiii. 10 : 

"But to do good and to communicate, forgot not; for with 
such sacrifices God is well pleased." 

Notwithstanding the piercing cold wind, a large 
and attentive audience listened to the venerable 
divine as he traced, in a most interesting manner, 
the history of missions in this country, as they 
followed on the trail of the new settlers of our 
western domain, as well as the progress of those 
who are laboring in distant lands. He said the 
Bible was the great instrumentality in the cause 
of missions, it being now circulated and read in 
two hundred different languages. 



WESTERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

Rev. Mr. Haskell, preached on the certainty 
of death, and the equal certainty of a future judg- 
ment, from Hebrews ix. 27 : 

" It is appointed uuto men once to die, but after this the judg- 
ment." 

The whole subject, more especially the closing 
reflections, took their character from the solem- 
nities of the scene presented in that lecture-room 



121 CHURCHES AND PASTORS 

the day before, — the upper part of the church not 
being completed. 

On Saturday the funeral exercises of Mr. David 
M. "Wilson, of this city, took place, in the presence 
of a deeply-affected auditory, composed of promi- 
nent members from nearly every church in Wash- 
ington. Notwithstanding the stormy and inclem- 
ent weather, the house was crowded to its utmost 
capacity with those who appeared to be sincere 
mourners for the deceased. After a short prayer 
by Eev. Dr. Smith, the young pastor, whose only 
elder lay a corpse before him, with a few well- 
timed remarks, read select passages from the word 
of G-od — passages which appeared to point with 
solemn import to the occasion. Then followed 
Dr. Sunderland, with an address, containing 
thoughts and reflections which it seemed as if such 
an occasion alone could suggest. Dr. Gurley next 
followed with an impressive prayer, when the 
choir sansr in low and subdued voices the hvmn 
commencing, 

'' There is an hour of peaceful rest 
To mourning wanderers given." 

After which the " last of earth" was conveyed 
to its final resting-place in Grlenwood Cemetery. 



OF washingto:n'. 125 

Thus has passed away one whose various labors 
and useful life brought him into contact with a 
larger number of our citizens, in connection with 
religious matters, than falls to the lot of few lay- 
men, but whose real character and good works 
could be known and properly appreciated only by 
those who intimately knew him — knew his inner 
life. Mr. Wilson, in his church relations was a 
Presbyterian, and for the most part of his religious 
life an official member in that church. Mr. Wil- 
son was also a Christian. In his own spirit he 
imbibed the spirit of his Master. His thoughts 
appeared to be on heavenly and divine things ; his 
words were those of forbearance and kindness ; to 
the delinquent, words of exhortation ; to the dis- 
heartened, words of hope and encouragement. Jn 
his life he literally "went about doing good." 
Living thus, he allowed no sectarianism to limit 
his freedom to do good, or to prevent him from 
taking by the hand as brethren all whom he be- 
lieved to be the children of G-od. Carrying out the 
dictates of a great soul, full of love to Grod and 
man, he was the brother and friend of everybody 
who fell within the sphere of his labors. That the 
*' Washington City Sunday- School Union" has lost 



126 CHUECHES AND PASTORS. 

an efficient friend ; that the " Bible Society" and 
the " Tract Society," and the church, and espe- 
cially the poor, and those who decided to entrust 
the distribution of funds to judicious hands, have 
lost a faithful and trustworthy laborer, need only 
be named, for that he was such a man, was read 
and known by all men who knew him. That such 
a man is a loss to a devoted family cannot be bet- 
ter understood. With the bereaved we sympa- 
thize. Could our pen drop tears, and not words, 
our feelings would find a better expression for the 
loss of a good man than with the barrenness of 
language. 



CHAPLAINS TO CONGRESS. 127 



CHAPLAINS TO CONGRESS. 



KEY. HENEY CLAY DEAN, of Iowa. 

Chaplain to the United States Senate. 

REV. DANIEL WALDO, of New York, 

Cliaplain to the United States House of Representatives. 

Services every Sabbath morning in the Capitol, 
conducted alternately by each of the chaplains. 

RELIGIOUS SERVICES IN THE U. S. CAPITOL. 

Rev. Daniel Waldo, the recently-elected chap- 
lain to Congress, who officiated on Sabbath morn- 
ing, is a Congregationalist minister from the town 
of G-eddis, near Syracuse, N. Y., in the district 
represented by the Hon. Mr. Granger, who intro- 
duced his name into the list of nominees for chap- 
lain to the House of Representatives. In an inter- 
view with this venerable man, we learned that he 
was a native of the State of Connecticut, and is 
now in the 94th year of his age ; that he was a 
soldier in the war of the Revolution, for which 



128 CHAPLAINS TO CONGRESS. 

service he now receives a pension ; that he was 

personally acquainted with General Washington ; 

that he was taken prisoner at York Island, and 

was confined with several hundred others in the 

fatal " Sugar-house prison," in New York, because 

the " Jersey prison-ship" was too full to hold them, 

and, after suffering the cruelties which carried so 

many out of existence, he barely escaped with his 

life ; that after the war he entered Yale College, 

and is now the oldest graduate of that venerated 

institution ; that he has now been in the ministry 

more than seventy years. He has the appearance 

and bearing of a gentleman of about seventy-five 

years of age, and speaks with a tolerably distinct 

utterance. This is accounted for by the fact that 

he has never been sick. He now reads from six to 

twelve hours each day, and, as he said, without 

feeling his eyes to tire. We are not surprised to 

learn that the Rev. Dr. Sprague, of Albany, is 

preparing for the press a history of his life ; nor 

are we surprised that such a man should deliver 

so able a discourse on Sabbath morning, and which 

no one can thoughtfully read without being prof- 

tted. His text was from James i. 19 : 

" Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to 
hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath." 



SABBATH SCHOOLS. 129 



SABBATH SCHOOLS. 



Statement showing the present condition (1856) 
of the Sabbath Schools of Washington, together 
with some account of the late Anniversary of the 
Sabbath-School Union of the city. 

We take the opportunity on this return of our 
annual gathering of the Sabbath schools to notice 
a class of laborers in our churches who fill an im- 
portant department in the means of moral training 
and religious instruction. Nearly half a century 
has passed since Sabbath schools began to be or- 
ganized in our churches. Their wonder-working 
power in bringing about reformations and the right 
training of vagrant and almost homeless children, 
as well as the formation of a high standard of 
morals in those whose care-taking parents secure a 
regular attendance at these schools, does not yet 
cease to excite our surprise and admiration. Time 
enough has already elapsed to bring into various 
fields of usefulness those who in their childhood 
took their starting point on the road to distinction 
from Sabbath schools. Boys w^ho were almost as 
destitute of honestly-gained food and raiment as 
6^ 



180 SABBATH SCHOOLS. 

they were of moral instruction, have been taken 
into the kind regards of Sabbath-school teachers, 
and cared for by such men as Harlan Page, until 
these almost houseless ones have grown to 
maturity, and are now pillars in the church 
at home or successful standard - bearers of the 
Cross in other lands. The true Sabbath-school 
teacher's work is one of philanthropy and benevo- 
lence. Prompted by no hope of earthly reward or 
worldly renown, he is stimulated to laborious per- 
severance by the one single desire of usefulness to 
others. If he chance to enter upon this work more 
by yielding to the persuasion of others than from 
the drawing of his own mind, he soon finds in him- 
self a want of that moral character which a teacher 
needs to make him successful in leading others 
into ''a more excellent way ;" and he soon goes 
himself to the Strong for strength, or finds some 
excuse for vacating his place as teacher in a Sab- 
bath school ; for the main object of a Sabbath 
school is to influence the bad to become good, and 
the good to become better. Cases may often occur 
where much labor is required to develop capacity 
and intellect by teaching neglected children how 
to read and receive ideas ; but the ultimate object 



SABBATH SCHOOLS. 181 

of Sabbath-school instruction is the formation of 
character, not intellectual merely, but moral ; not 
to form a conscience, for all men have some kind 
of a conscience, but it is the province of the Sab- 
bath school to form *' a good conscience." As to 
Sabbath-school children who are regular in their 
attendance, the examiners of our criminal calen- 
dars and the inmates of our penitentiaries all over 
the land furnish reports which prove that few, 
very few of their names are ever found upon these 
dark rolls. In every view, therefore, which can be 
taken of the subject, what a deep interest parents 
and children, philanthropists and statesmen, must 
feel in Sabbath schools I Monday morning, (a 
more delightful morning and in all respects adapted 
to the convenience of the occasion no one could 
have asked the wise and beneficent Father of us 
all to have sent us,) at 9 o'clock, the Protestant 
Sunday schools, forty in number, embracing 700 
teachers and about 4,700 scholars, assembled on 
the grounds of the Smithsonian Institution, and 
after marching under the care of marshals, with 
banners and music, to the places appointed, this 
long, splendid procession, on which the holy angels 
(who, we are informed, take an interest in human 



132 SABBATH SCHOOLS. 

welfare) must have felt a delight at beholding, 
filled the E street Baptist and Four-and-a-half 
street Presbyterian churches, and old Trinity church, 
to hear addresses from clergymen. What a scene 
was here presented for contemplation ! 

A larger number of well-dressed, well-behaved 
children never before assembled, at one time in 
Washington. They were now brought together 
in one common bond of sympathy and brotherhood, 
co-workers in the great conflict of overcoming all 
that is wrong in one's self, and preparing to do good 
through all the future of this mortal life. 

To those who are interested in the mental cul- 
ture of these children and youth, it is a matter of 
no small gratification that the aggregate number 
of library books which are entrusted weekly to 
their care, does not fall short of 15,000 volumes. 
But of these thousands of children thus cared for 
by affectionate parents and teachers, all do not reach 
maturity. Sume fall soon after entering upon 
life's battle-field, and others ripen in the path of 
virtue and then fall. Twenty-one children have 
been reported to the Secretary of the'Union as hav- 
ing died the last year, and that father in the Sun- 
day-school cause with whose voice of good counsel 



SABBATH SCHOOLS, 133 

not a few of the scholars were so familiar, namely 
David M. Wilson. Among the proofs that these 
efforts to biing children to Christ are effective, not 
less than 120 have made a public profession in the 
several churches of their purpose to live a religious 
life. There are also some 800 colored children 
who meet in their respective Sabbath schools in 
"Washington, besides some five or six Roman Cath- 
olic Sabbath schools. Such, then, is the nature 
of the work and the number engaged in the grow- 
ing Sabbath-school enterprise of this city. 

The last report of the Washington Sunday School 
Union furnishes the following statement respecting 
the increase of the Sunday school interests. 

In 1842 there were 17 schools, 303 teachers, 
1,827 scholars. In 1856 there were 40 schools, 
700 teachers, 4,700 scholars, with an aggregate 
number of about fifteen thousand volumes in the 
libraries. 

This report does not include some five or six 
Catholic Sabbath schools, nor those conducted by 
the colored people. 



FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS OE SERMONS. 



FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 137 



FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS OF SERMOxNS, 

Delivered by the Pastors of the several churches of Washington, 
and by a few other clergymen. 

The reasons and necessity for giving heed to the 

gospel. Heb. ii. 1. Sunderland. 

The Abrahamic Covenant. 

Gen. xvii. 7. Sunderland. 

Relis^ious condition of the world. 

Isaiah Ix. 2. Sunderland. 

Different methods of hearing the gospel. 

Luke viii. 18. Sunderland. 

A preached gospel the instrument of human destiny. 

Matthew xxiv. 14. Sunderland. 

Faith the neutralizing principle of fear. 

Marie v. 36. Sunderland. 

Men make light of the invitations of the gospel. 

Matthew xxii. 5. Sunderland, 

Christ seeking the lost. 

Matthew xviii. 11. Sunderland. 

The shield of faith. 

Eph. vi. 16. Sunderland. 

The advent of Christ ; his mission and its results. 

Luke ii. 11. Sunderland. 

The nature, origin and condition of Christian peace. 

Isaiah XX vi. 3. Sunderland. 



138 FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 

The nature and power of the gospel. 

1 Cor. xxiii. 24. Sunderland. 

Divine providence. 

Exodus xiii. 22. Sunderland. 

The duty of listening to messages from heaven. 

Jeremiah xiii. 15, 16. Sunderland. 

The power of prosperity and adversity to divide the 

soul from G-od . Rom. viii. 38, 39. Sunderland. 
On the increase of the church. 

Acts ii. 47. Sunderland. 

The awful event of being finally rejected, consid- 
ered. Matthew vii. 23. Simderland. 
The influence of faith upon character. 

Matthew ix. 29. Sunderland. 

Necessity of regeneration. The interview of Christ 

with Nicodemus. John iii. 1-13. Sunderland. 
The gospel a curse to those who reject it. 

Luke xii. 47. Sunderland. 

The power of saving faith. 

Romans iv. 20. Sunderland. 

Perseverance in the exercise of faith and prayer. 

Matt. XV. 28. Dr. Boardman. 

The divinity of Christ and the efficacy of the 

atonement. Matthew xxii. 24. Boardman. 
Sermon in behalf of orphans. 

Mark x. 16. Sunderland. 

The divine origin and authority of the Bible as the 

word of Grod. 2 Tim. iii. 7-9. Sunderland. 

The instructions furnished by judgments. 

Isaiah xxvi. 8, 9. Sunderland. 



FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS, 139 

The dignity and moral worth of human nature. 
G-en. i. 26. Sunderland, 

The necessity of humility and activity in the 
church. Judges vii. 20. Sunderland. 

Necessity of co-operation between pastor and peo- 
ple, in order to secure success in Christian effort. 
Exodus xvii. 12. Sunderland. 

An appeal to the impenitent. 

Luke xxiii. 34. Sunderland. 

The indifference of impenitent men illustrated. 
Prov. xiv. 9. Sunderland. 

The impenitent interrogated about their stub- 
bornness. Prov. xviii. 31. Sunderland. 

Unbelief the great obstacle to success. 

John XX. 27. Sunderland. 

The visible manifestations of God's presence. 
Exodus xxviii. 30. Sunderland. 

The minuteness of God's care of his creatures, 
Matthew x. 30. Myrick. 

The great commission. 

Mark xvi. 15. Cole. 

Rest for the people of G-od. 

Heb. iv. 1. Wilson. 

The necessity of a divine revelation. 

1 Cor. i. 21. Wilson. 
The importance of faithfulness to the end consid- 
ered. Rev. ii. 10. Wilson. 

The Christian's triumph in Christ. 

2 Cor. ii. 14. Wilson. 



140 FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 

The great object of Christ's mission considered. 

John X. 10. Wilson. 

Christ our sacrifice. 

John i. 29. Wilson. 

Motives for living a life of holiness considered. 

Eph. i. 13, 14. Wilson. 

The adaptation of the gospel to human want. 

John iv. 21. Wilson. 

The instability of things temporal and earthly. 

1 Cor. vii. 31. Wilson. 

The day of small things not to be despised. 

Zech. iv. 10. Wilson. 

The nature of faith and its rewards. 

1 Peter ii. 7. Wilson. 
A funeral sermon. 

Phil. iii. 21. Wilson. 

A ritual and a spiritual worship. 

2 Timothy iii. 5. Wilson. 
The duty and the encouragement to call upon God. 

Jeremiah. Wilson. 

Heaven has somewhere in God's universe a local- 
ity. John xiv. 1,2. Gurley. 

The high standard of piety enjoined by the gospel. 
Matthew v. 20. Gurley. 

What is implied in walking with God. 

Genesis v. 24. Gurley. 

The miracle of regeneration one of the evidences 
that Christianity is from God. Gurley. 

A child of God a stranger and a sojourner on earth. 
Psalm xxxix. 12. Gurley. 



FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 141 

The certainty and credibility of the resurrection. 

Acts XX vi. 8. Gurley. 

The believer under the protection of Divine Provi- 
dence. Grenesis xxviii. 10-22. Gurley. 
Our responsibilities relating to the poor. 

Psalm xli. i. Gurley, 

Oar duty with reference to the sick. 

James v. 14, 15. Balch, 

The character and condition of the rich maji. 

Luke xii. 16-21. Gurley, 

Jesus in the garden of Grethsemane contemplated. 

John xviii. 1. 
Earth not our enduring home, 

Heb. xiii. 14. Gurley, 

The power and influence of the gospel. 

1 Cor. i. 21. Gurley. 

The possibility and pleasure of communion with 

G-od. Psalm Ixxiii. 28. Gurley, 

Man's immortality. 

Heb. vii. 16. Dr. S. I. Prime, 

Christ the life of his people. 

Col. iii. 4. Gurley, 

New Year's sermon. 

Job vii. 9, 10. Gurley, 

The Christian's hope contemplated. 

Heb. vi. 19. Gurley. 

The faithful testimony of a faithful minister. 

Dent. XXX. 19. Wynans. 

The blessedness of believing in Christ presented as 

forming motives to piety. Ps. ii. 12. Gurley. 



142 FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 

The ascension of Christ. 

Lake xxiv. 50, 51. Gurley. 

The nature and necessity of submission to God. 

James iv. 7. Gurley. 

The preserving and governing providence of God 

in the affairs of his kingdom. Ps. ciii. 1.9. Gurley. 
No hope out of the favor of God. 

Ephesians ii. 12. Cole, 

Exemplary piety. 

1 Timothy i. 12. Cole. 

The sympathy of angels in the v^ork of redemption. 

1 Peter i. 12. Cole. 

The compensating principle contained in the gos- 
pel for all that is lost for Christ. 

Phil. iii. 8. Phelps. 

The loftiness and holiness of God's habitation. 

Isaiah Ivii. 15. Phelps. 

The institution of the Lord's Supper. 

Luke xxii. 19. Phelps. 

Shortness of the present life, and the certainty of a 

future accountability. 1 Pet. iv. 7. Phelps. 

Faith and the obedience required in order to ob- 
tain salvation. Acts xvi. 30. Phelps. 
The evidence of a true faith manifested in the life. 

James ii. 17, 18. Phelps. 

To whom is the gospel hid ? and who blinds the 

mind. 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. Register. 

The right w^ay to glorify God recommended. 

Jer. ix. 23, 24. Register. 



FIVE HUKDEED TOPICS. 143 

The physical, intellectual and religious training 

of children considered. Eph. vi. 4. Register. 
Elevated pursuits of the Christian. 

Col. iii. 1. Cole. 

Divine agency necessary to the success of the 

preached word. Zech. iv. 6. Cole. 

Human life a short journey. 

1 Chron. xxix. 15. Samson, 

Proofs of the authority of Bible records found in 

the traditions of Bible lands. 

Mat. xxviii. 15. Samson. 

Parental discipline of our Heavenly Father. 

Heb. xii. 7. Samson. 

The basis of all our domestic and social duties. 

Mai. i. 6. Samson. 

The continued intercession of Christ. 

Romans viii. 34. Samson. 

The great things which can be done only in the 

strength of Christ. Phil. iv. 13. Samson. 

o 

Man's self-complacency illustrated. 

Mai. iii. 7. Samson, 

Ezra an example for business men. 

Ezra viii. 21-23. Cleg-horn. 

The infinitude and wisdom of God contrasted with 

the impotency and folly of man. 

Isaiah Iv. 8, 9. Cleghorn. 

On the E-esurrection. 

1 Cor. XV. 14. Cole. 

The penitent thief. 

Luke xxiii. 42. Cole. 



144 FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 

The choice of Moses. 

Heb. xi. 24-26. Cole. 

Ruth, — her works illustrated her trust in Grod. 

Ruth ii. 12. Samson. 

The progressive principle of good or evil in man. 

Gral. V. 9. Sainson. 

The susceptibility of the mind to flattery. 

2 Cor. xi. 30, 31. Samson. 

The results of believing contemplated. 

Matt. ix. 2, 3. Samson. 

The sin of not believing in the Son of God con- 
sidered. John iii. 18. Samson. 
The nature and necessity of repentance. 

Acts iii. 19. Samson. 

The duty of familiar religious conversation. 

Acts viii. 29. Samson. 

Christ a foreign missionary. 

Matt. iv. 13-16. Samson. 

The spiritual impression made by the ordinance 

of baptism. I Peter iii. 21. Samson. 

God the proper object of prayer through Jesus 

Christ. John xvi. 23. Samson. 

The triumph of the Gospel predicted. 

Isaiah ii. 1-6. Poindexter. 

The opposition of man to the Gospel considered. 

Acts xiii. 8. Samson. 

The object of our Saviour's advent into this world. 

Titus ii. 14. Hill. 

Giving thanks to God a duty and a privilege. 

Col. i. 12. /////. 



FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 145 

On the duty and benefits of prayer. 

1 Timothy ii. 1. Hill. 

The precious results of an active faith. 

1 Peter ii. 7. HilL 

The happy effects of an acquaintance with Grod. 

Job xxii. 21. HilL 

The happy influence of religion in our domestic 

and social relation. 

Romans xiv. 17. Hill. 

The duty and motives for seeking after communion 

vt^ith Grod and sanctified affections. 

Col. i. 5. Hill. 

Acceptable worship, pure, spiritual. 

John iv. 24. HilL 

Causes and consequences of rejecting the light of 

the Grospel. John iii. 19. Hill. 

The contrast contemplated between good and evil 

Proverbs xi. 19. Hill. 

Rewards of religious integrity considered. 

Revelation ii. 11. HilL 

Funeral sermon of Samuel Southard Force. Ser- 
mon for departed good. 

1 Samuel xxv. 1. Hill. 

Self-knowledge and self-examination recommended. 

Psalm xix. 12. HilL 

The goodness and forbearance of Grod illustrated. 

Acts xiv. 17. HilL 

The constancy and moral heroism of pious women 

contemplated. John xix. 25. HilL 

7 



146 FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 

The goodness of G-od and his Fatherly care illus- 
trated and considered. Jeremiah ii. 31. Hill. 

A thanksgiving-day sermon. 

Leviticus xxiii. 39. Hill. 

The Christian conflict — he is made victorious 
through the blood of the Lamb. 
Revelation xii. IL Hill. 

The moral disease of nations cured by accepting 
the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. 
Ps. Ixvii. 12. Hill. 

The great number who reject the Saviour con- 
sidered. Luke xiii. 23. Hill. 

Children invited to hear why they should fear the 
Lord. Psalms xxxiv. 11. Hill. 

A sermon to sabbath school children. 

Psalm xxxiv. 11. Hill. 

Children encouraged to come- to Christ. 

Luke xviii. 15, 16. Hill. 

The faith and perseverance of Jacob rewarded 
Genesis xxxii. 26. Hill. 

Character and relations of Christ to the human 
family. Rev. xxii. 13, 16. Smith. 

The lessons which the dispensations of our Father 
in heaven are designed to teach us. 
Isaiah xxvi 9. Smith. 

Litegrity of character demanded by the Gospel. 
Luke xvi. 10. Smith. 

Purity of heart and life demanded as a qualifica- 
tion for heaven. Luke. Smith 



FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 147 

The repentance of Judas. 

Matthew xxvii. '64. Smith. 

Watchfulness on the post of duty recommended. 

Luke xii. 35, o6. Smith. 

The book of life. 

Rev. XX. 15. Smith. 

Moral deformity changed to beauty of regenera- 
tion. Psakn xc. 17. Smith. 
Motives to diligence in religious affairs. 

2 Peter iii. 14. Smith. 

The frailty of man and the uncprtainty of life. 

Psalm ciii. 14. Smith. 

Human bereavements. 

Eccl. xii. 5. Smith, 

To believe there is only one G-od is doing well. 

James ii. 19. Smith. 

Narrow escape from ruin considered. 

Psalm Ixxiii. 2. Smith. 

Dangers attendant on prosperity. 

Deut. xxxii. 15. Smith. 

The special providence of God considered. A his- 
torical discourse. 
The protecting care of our Father. 

Deut. xxxiii. 27. Smith. 

The spiritual beauty of the church considered. 

Psalm xlviii. 2. Smith. 

Song of the redeemed. 

Rev. XV. 84. Smith. 

The necessity of an atonement and the ability of 

Christ to make it. Heb. iv. 14. Wrisrht. 



148 FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 

The resurrection considered. 

1 Cor. XV. 32. Smith. 
The plaudit of the faithful servant. 

Matthew XXV. 23. Smith. 

The importance of Sabbath schools to the Church. 

Acts ii. 39. Smith, 

Human frailty and bereavements considered. 

Ecclesiastes. Smith. 

The downward progress of evils seducers. 

2 Timothy iii. 13. Smith. 
Divine mission of Christ's ministers ; a funeral 

sermon. John i. 6. Smith. 

Christ our sacrifice. 

1 Cor. V. 6, 7. Stanley. 

Necessity of a preparation for Christ's coming as 

our Judge. 

Matt. xxiv. 43, 44. Stanley. 

A due preparation to receive the sacrament of the 

Lord's Supper, considered. 

1 Cor. xi. 24, 25. Stanley. 

The joy of Simeon at the birth of Christ, considered 

as an example for all believers. 

Luke ii. 29-32. Stanley. 

A preparation for the heavenly residence promised 

us in the Gospel. 

Heb. xiii. 14. Stanley. 

The wickedness and folly of being ashamed to 

confess Christ. 

Mark viii. 38. Stanley, 



FIVE HUNDKED TOPICS. 149 

The causes of gratitude which appear in times of 

tribulation. A retrospective discourse. 

Acts, xxxiii. 15. Stanley. 

The motive to a Godly life. 

Titus ii. 11-13. Stanley. 

Obedience a proof of love to G-od. 

1 Cor. xiii. 3. Stanley. 

The causes of continuing in sin considered. 

John V. 40. Stanley. 

The inexcusableness of not entering upon a Chris- 
tian life. Luke xix. 16-18. Stanley. 
The care of our heavenly Father for. little children. 

Matt, xviii. 14. Stanley, 

Conscience of G-od's law. 

Romans i. 15. Stanley. 

The consecration of our whole being to the service 

of Grod. Romans xxi. 1. Stanley. 

The benefits of public worship and the necessity 

of our preparation for it. Ps. i. 2. Stanley. 
Reasons why we should love the church. 

Psalm cxxii. 12. Stanley. 

The Lord's Supper, — the nature of the rite and the 

reasons which should lead us to its observance. 

1 Cor. xi. 24. Stanley. 

Man's need of forgiveness, and the provision made 

for obtaining it through Christ. 

Acts xiii. 38. Stanley. 

The qualifications necessary in a candidate for 

confirmation. Heb. vi. 1-3. Stanley. 



150 FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 

Christ our intimate friend and affectionate teacher. 

Isaiah xxxii. 2. Stanley. 

The still small voice. 

1 Kings xix. 12. McCariy. 

Excellency of the knowledge of Christ. In what 

it consists. Phil. iii. 8. MarshalL 

The hidden mystery, present and future salvation 

revealed by the Holy Spirit. 

1 Cor. ii. 7-10. Israel, 

Character and privileges of the righteous. 

Isaiah xxxiii. 15-17. Israel. 

The true method of learning the doctrines of Christ. 

John vii. 17. Israel. 

A sermon adapted to the sacrament of the Lord's 

Supper. Isaiah liii. 5. Israel. 

Necessity of firmness of purpose in maintaining a 

religious life. Psalm cxvi. 13. Lenahan. 

Christian obedience — its nature and rewards. 

John xiv. 21-23. Israel 

The object of Paul's glorying the efficacy of the 

cross. G-al. vi. 14. Israel. 

The elements of true religion. 

James i. 27. Israel. 

Obedience to Grod the best evidence of our love to 

him. 1 John v. 3. Israel. 

The means considered by which Christ will bring 

about the triumph of his kingdom. 

Isaiah xlii. 1-4. Israel. 

Future home of the righteous. 

John xiv. 2. . Hildt, 



FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 151 

The peculiarity and importance of the death of 
Christ. 1 Cor. xv. 8. Lenahan. 

The wise and good work of saving souls. 

Proverbs xi. 30. Israel. 

Origin, design and obligations of Christianity. 
Titus ii. 11. Israel. 

The generous provisions of the Gospel. 

John XV. 16. Rogers. 

The extent of salvation by Jesus Christ. 

Matt. i. 21. Israel. 

Repentance a primary doctrine of the gospel. 
Mark vi. 12. Israel. 

The essentials of religion found in a right know- 
ledge of God and Christ. John xvii. 3. Israel. 

The favorable influence of piety upon man's exist- 
ence. 1 Timothy iv. 8. Israel. 

The mutability of all things earthly, and durabil- 
ity of things heavenly. 1 Peter i. 24, 25. Israel. 

The brevity and sorrows of human life. 

Gen. xlvii. 8, 9. Israel. 

The formation and development of Christian char- 
acter. 2 Peter i. 5-7. Israel. 

The unity, harmony and power of the church of 
Christ. Israel. 

The power of Christ over sin. 

John viii. 36. Israel. 

Influence of Christian example. 

Matthew viii. 16. Israel. 

The small number of effectual laborers in the 
Church. Luke x. 2. Finkle. 



152 FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 

The right of possession which G-od has on his crea- 
tures. 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. Israel. 

The duty of every converted man to propagate the 
Christian faith. John ix. 26, 27. Israel. 

The design of Christ's manifestation. 

1 John iii. 8. Israel. 
Grounds of encouragement to make supplication to 

God. Hebrews iv. 16. Wilson. 
Obligations and influence of early religious instruc- 
tion. Prov. xxii. 6. 

The model Christian described. 

Gal. v. 22, 23. Israel. 

Duration of future punishment considered. 

Matthew xxv. 46. Israel. 

Cautions against apostasy. 

Heb. xii. 18. Israel. 

The exaltation of Christ, and the homage due him. 

Phil. ii. 9, 10. Israel. 

The resurrection of Christ. 

2 Timothy ii. S. Israel. 
A discourse in behalf of Missions. 

John iv. 38. Israel. 

Preaching the Gospel the chief means of convert- 
ing the world. Rev. xiv. 6. Israel. 
The character and design of the Atonement. 

2 Cor. v. 21. Israel. 

The faith and practice of the earliest Christian 
Church, considered. Acts ii. 42-44. Israel. 
The consequences of sin urged as motives to re- 
pentance. Matt. iii. 10. Israel. 



FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 153 

The happy consequences of believing and trusting 

in God. John xiv. 27. Henry. 

On the importance of revivals, and the means of 

promoting them. Habakkuk iii. 2. Henry . 

The barren fig-tree. 

Luke xiii. 7. Henry. 

The recognition of friends in Heaven. 

2 Samuel xii. 23. Henry. 

The instances enumerated in which G-od has mani- 
fested an interest in the moral improvement and 
salvation of our race. Isaiah v. 4. Cleghorn. 
Nature of God, and the true mode of worshipping 
him acceptably. John iv. 24. Cleghorn. 
Our obligations to keep the Christian Sabbath con- 
sidered. Exodus XX. 8. Cleghorn. 
A heroic and religious character to be given to all 
our actions. John xii. 3. Conway. 
Piety of the intellect, or moral relations of the heart 
and will. Matt. xxii. 37. King^ of Boston. 
Spiritual gravitation. 

Acts i. 25. King. 

The ability to do good universal. 

Mark xiv. 8. Conxoay. 

The soul ; its conditions and its necessities. 

Isaiah xxviii. 20. Conway. 

Moral and affectional nature of man considered. 

Ephesians v. 19. Conway. 

The spirit manifested in the life of Christ con- 
sidered. Matt. XX. 28. Conway. 
7* 



154 FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 

The parental care and clemency of our Father con- 
sidered. Luke xi. 4. Conway. 
Christianity adapted to human wants and condi- 
tions. Acts xxiv. 14. Conway. 
The designs and benefits of trials and temptations. 
James i. 12. Moore. 
Scriptures, the grand educator of the conscience. 

Romans vii. 24. Burnap. 

Co-working with Grod in bringing about moral re- 
sults. 2 Cor. vi. 1. Tiffany. 
Mary's love — the ideal woman. 

John xix. 25. Conway, 

Life and death of Hon. Judge Cranch. 

Psalm i. 3. Comvay. 

Everybody must be about the business given him 
to do. Luke ii. 49. Comvay. 

The results issuing after righteousness, contem- 
plated . Matt. V. (3. Weis^ Neiu Bedford^ Mass. 
Reflections of Peter after denying his Lord. 

Mark xxvi. 75. Weis. 

Reliance on the interior selfhood considered. 

John xxvi. 7. Conway. 

The connection of Christ's death with human re- 
demption. 1 Cor. xi. 26. Conway. 
The strength of the lonely. 

John xvi. 32. Conway. 

Scepticism and sceptics, or doubt necessary to suc- 
cessful investigation. John i. 45, 46. Conway. 
Conscience the Sinai of the soul. 

Exodus XXV. 40. Conway. 



FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 165 

The nature of spiritual freedom. 

Gal. V. 1. Conway. 

Conditions and prospects of a child of G-od. 

Romans viii. 15-17. Conway, 

Herod seeking to destroy the child Jesus, spiritually 

considered. Matt. ii. 13. Conway. 

God comes to us in ways beyond our consciousness. 

Psalm cxxvii. 2. Conway. 

Faith and the true spiritual worship of God, the 
only source of satisfaction to the highest crav- 
ings of man's nature. Ps. civ. 33, 34. Dewey. 
The voice of God in the wind. 

Genesis iii. 8. Conway. 

Motives for leading a religious life considered. 

Heb. xi. 25, 26. Cummins. 

The resurrection of Christ illustrating an import- 
ant doctrine. Matt, xxviii. 7. Cummins. 
The latest phases of modern infidelity. 

Matt. vii. 20. Cummins. 

Dependence of the Church on the Holy Spirit. 

Zech. iv. 6. Cummins. 

The young Christian counselled. 

Phil. i. 6. Cummins. 

An earnest Christianity. 

Romans xii. 11. Cummins. 

A sermon to moral men. 

John xvi. 9. Cummins. 

The responsibility of young men considered. 

1 John ii. 14. Cummins. 



156 FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 

The simplicity of the religion of Christ. 

2 Cor. xi. 3. Cummins. 

The sympathy of Christ with his followers. 

Acts ix. 4. Cummins. 

The paralytic healed, and the title, " Son of Man," 

considered. Mark ii. 10, 11. Cummins, 

Religious patriotism ; a sermon suggested by 

Washington's birth-day. 

Ps. cxxxvii. 5, 6. Cummins. 

The doctrine of a divine providence considered. 

Luke xii. 6, 7. Cummins. 

Christianity not to be held responsible for existing 

evils. Jer. viii. 22. Cummins. 

A true and faithful confession of Christ considered. 

Matt. x. 32, 33. Cummins. 

Sacrament of the Lord's Supper considered. 

1 Cor. xi. 26. Cummins. 
The Christian armor — the object, basis and excel- 
lence of the Christian's hope. 

1 Thess. V. 8. Cummins. 

Models of warning found in the Scriptures. Gehazi. 
A sermon to young men. 

2 Kinsfs V. 27. Cummins, 
Christians a peculiar people. 

1 Peter ii. 9. Cummins. 

The character of Nicodemus. 

.John iii. 4. Cummins. 

Perversion of Grod's long forbearance. 

Eccl. viii. 11. Cummins. 



FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 157 

Repentance — St. Paul on Mars' Hill. 

Acts xvii. 30. Cummins. 

The ultimate triumph of Christ's kingdom. 
Isaiah liii. 11. Cummins. 

The agony of Christ in the garden. 

Luke xxii. 44. Henry. 

The compassion of Christ for obstinate sinners. 
Matt, xxiii. 37. Henry. 

The elevated and purified affections to which 
Christians should aspire. Col. iii. 2. Henry. 

Hanging out a banner in the name of God : a 
dedication sermon. Ps. xx. 5. Riley. 

The truth as it is in Jesus. 

Eph. iv. 21. Brooke. 

The church edifice dedicated to G-od, is a house of 
prayer. Isaiah Ivi. 7. Cook. 

A sermon in behalf of the Norfolk sufferers. 

2 Samuel xii. 23. Day. 

A missionary sermon, 

Heb. xiii. 13. Bishop Waugh. 

Reading the Scriptures, a duty not to be ne- 
glected. Isaiah xxxiv. 16. Day. 

A sermon relating to the Lord's Supper. 

Isaiah liii. 10. Day. 

The sufferings of Christ — his resurrection — preach- 
ing repentance. Luke xxiv. 46, 47. Day. 

Discontent with present attainments in piety en- 
couraged. Matt. y. 6. Hough. 

Intimate communion with Christ of the highest 
worth. Phil. iii. 7. Fike, 



158 FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 

The unspeakable gift. 

2 Cor. ix. 15. Day, 

The conversion of St. Paul. 

Acts ix. 17. Day. 

The diffusive nature of the Gospel. 

Acts xii. 24. Day. 

By the power of faith we overcome the world. 

1 John V. 4. Hough. 

The apocalyptic view of heaven. 

Rev. vii. 9-17. Butler. 

The love and practice of sin grounds of considera- 
tion. John iii. 9. Butler. 
A rebuke for pursuing temporal, to the expense of 

spiritual things. Matt. vi. 32. Butler. 

The character of the enemies of the cross con- 
sidered. Phil. iii. 18. Butler. 
The inconsiderate and ungrateful rebellion of 

God's people considered. Is. i. 2, 3. Butler. 

The duty of observing public worship, with the 

excuses for neglect. John xx. 24. Butler. 
Zeal for the house of God : its nature. 

John ii. 17. Butler. 

Reproof of idle curiosity and speculation in regard 

to the number saved. 

Luke xiii. 23-31. Butler. 

The sinfulness of man considered. 

Isaiah lix. 12. Butler. 

Be sure your sin will find you out. 

Num. xxxii. 23. Butler. 



FIVE HUNDEED TOPICS. 159 

Delight in the service of God an evidence of piety. 
Psalm xl. 8. Butler. 

Faithfulness in preaching. 

Acts XX. 26. Butler. 

Parable of the sower illustrated. 

Luke viii. Butler. 

A discourse illustrating the designs of the Lord's 
Supper. Ex. xii. 26. Butler' 

Counsels from the Divine counsellors considered. 
Eev. iii. 18. Butler- 

The Saviour's mission and the aim of the Chris- 
tian's life. John ix. 4. Butler. 

Contrast between a Christian and almost a Chris- 
tian. Acts xxvi. 28. Butler. 

Parable of the lost sheep considered. 

Luke XV. 1-10. Butler. 

A plea for the study and the circulation of the 
Scriptures. Eph. vi. 17. Butler. 

Incomprehensibility of Grod. 

Isaiah Iv. 8, 9. Titus. 

The Christian priesthood : its privileges and duties. 
Isaiah Ixi. 6. Kemp. 

Tests of a waking spiritual state considered. 
Romans xiii. IL Butler. 

A sermon relating to the painful disaster at Alex- 
andria, Ya.=^ Luke xiii. 1-5. Butler. 

Pleasing Grod the aim of life. 

John viii. 29. Butler. 

<' The walls of a building on fire fell, burying beneath its frag- 
ments several firemen. 



160 FIVE HUNDKED TOPICS. 

The mefliatorial relation in which Christ stands to 
nnan. 1 Cor. v. 7. Morsell. 

The long forbearance of God with impenitent sin- 
ners. 2 Peter iii. 9. Hodges, 

The hope of pardon for all who are truly penitent. 
Jonah iii, 10. Hodges. 

The conditions to be complied with and the duties 
to be performed in becoming a disciple of Christ. 
Luke xvi. 26-31. Hodges. 

Refuge in Christ illustrated by ancient cities of 
refuge. Numbers xxxv. 11, 12. Hodges. 

The influence of envy. 

1 John iii. 11, 12. Hodges. 
The support which religion affords the people of 

G-od in affliction. Neh. viii. 10. Hodges, 
Causes and remedies of declension in religion. 

Matthew xxiv. 12. Hodges. 

Acceptance of the will for the deed when there is 

no opportunity of the deed to be performed. 

2 Cor. viii. 12. Hodges. 
The influence which our character exerts over the 

exercise of our faith. Heb. iii. 12, 13. Hodges. 
On the character of the pardoned. 

Luke vii. 37, 38. Hodges. 

Insufficiency of the world to satisfy us. 

Eccl. i. 14. Hodges, 

Sickness and our duty with reference to it. 

Matthew viii. 17. Samson. 

The ways of religion pleasant and peaceful. 

Prov. iii. 17. Kinney. 



FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 161 

A right spirit needful in order to a right apprehen- 
sion of Christ. 1 Cor. xii. 3. Samson. 

The reign of Christ on earth. 

Revelation xx. 6. Samson. 

The duty of acting according to our religious con- 



victions. John xiii. 17. 




Samson, 


Social study of the Scriptures. 






Acts xviii. 2-6. 




Samson. 


Nature, design, and effect of p 


rayer. 




Luke xi. 1. 




Samson- 


The promise of faith. 






Heb. xi. 1. 




Samson- 


The intercession of Christ as 


distinguished from 


his mediation. Heb. vii. 


25. 


Samson, 


Moral lessons of winter storms, 






Job xxxvii. 13. 




Samson, 



The value of the soul. 

Mark viii. 36. Dasheil. 

The Christian a stranger and pilgrim on earth. 

Psalm cxix. 19. Pres. Binney. 

Our obligations to Christ as a benefactor considered. 

2 Cor. v. 14, 15. Samson. 

Christ crucihed. 

Luke xiv. 27. Samson. 

Country recreation, the rule given us in this be- 
half. Matt. vi. 28. Samson. 
Exercise of the moral and religious affections. 

1 Timothy iv. 7. Samson, 

Reading the Scriptures. 

Luke x. 26. Samson, 



162 FIVE HUNDKED TOPICS. 

Nature of spiritual freedom, and how to obtain it. 

Psalm cxix. 45. Samson. 

Nature and proofs of a final judgment. 

Acts xvii. 31. jSainson 

The ordinary work of the Spirit of God illustrated 

and considered. Matt. xii. 28. Samson. 

The nature and influence of early love to God con- 
sidered. Jeremiah ii. 2. Samson. 
The trial and triumph of integrity. 

Job xxiii. 10. Dasheil. 

The present imperfection and future increase of 

our knowledge. 

1 Cor. xiii. 10. - Dasheil. 

Nature, duty and benefits of social worship. 

Hebrews x. 25. Noble. 

The nature and office of ruling elders. 

1 Timothy v. 17. Noble. 

The means of triumphing over our spiritual foes. 

1 Samuel vii. 12. Noble. 

The will of God done in heaven a model for doing 

it on earth. Matthew vi. 10. Noble. 

Christ's reign in the heart defined. 

Ephesians iii. 17. Noble. 

The nature and effect of Christ's intercession. 

1 John ii. 1. Noble. 

The love of spiritual influences. 

Romans xv. 30. Noble. 

The sympathy between the people of God on earth 

and in heaven. Eph. iii. 15. Noble. 



FIVE HUNDKED TOPICS. 163 

The great ends of a Christian life. 

Hebrews xii. 14. Moore. 

The Saviour's call to Zaccheus. 

Luke xix. 9. Finkle. 

The publican's prayer. 

Luke xviii. 13. Finkle. 

The value of the soul. 

Mark viii. 36. Finkle. 

Condition of the righteous and the unrighteous in 

the spirit world. Luke xvi. 25. Finkle. 

The reasons for wonder and inquiry as to our 

Saviour's character. Matthew viii. 27. Finkle. 
The witnesses for Christ and their testimony. 

John XV. 27. Finkle. 

The wisdom and goodness of God as manifested in 

the seasons. Grenesis viii. 22. Finkle. 

Religion the true source of cheerfulness and hap- 
piness. Colossians iii. 16. Finkle. 
The exaltation of Christ. 

Philippians ii. 9-11. Finkle. 

Trials of the Christian life. 

2 Corinthians i. 7. Finkle. 

Value of the love of Christ. 

Ephesians iii. 19. Finkle. 

Fewness of the laborers in the Lord's harvest. 

Matthew xxi. 29, 30. Finkle. 

Christian economy. 

John i. 12. 
Christ the only way to heaven. 

John xiv. 6. Finkle. 



164 FIVE HUNDKED TOPICS. 

Yalue and necessity of the new birth. 

John iii. 8. Dasheil. 

Terms of discipleship in the kingdom of Christ. 

Matthew xvi. 24. Dasheil. 

Advantages of early piety. 

Ecclesiastes xii. 1. Dasheil. 

Our salvation made dependent on knowing Christ 

crucified. 1 Corinthians ii. 2. Fuller. 

The way in which G-od is glorified in his house. 

Isaiah Ix. 7. Burrows. 

The attractions of the sanctuary. 

Psalm Ixxxiv. 1, 2. Teasdale. 

The cause of our Saviour's sorrow in the days of 

his advent. Isaiah liii. 3. Teasdale. 

Some knowledge of G-od necessary to render unto 

him acceptable service. Exodus v. 2. Jones. 
A solemn declaration. John v. 42. Teasdale. 

A plea for home religion. 

Joshua xxiv. 15. Dasheil. 

The resurrection of the body as well as the soul 

considered. Phil. iii. H. Dasheil. 

Christ's special commandment. 

John XV. 12. Dasheil. 

Christian faithfulness, its hindrances and incen- 
tives. Nehemiah vii. 2. Dasheil. 
The relation in which the death of Christ stands 

to both G-od and man. 1 Cor. xv. 3. French. 
Parallel between the moral action and condition of 

Adam and all other men. 

G-enesis iii. 1-7. French. 



FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 165 

The effect of faith. 

Hebrews xi. 1. French. 

The church, including its ministers, the medium 

of revealed truth to the world. 

1 Timothy iii. 15. French. 

The church the ark of safety to the written Word. 

Jeremiah xxiii. .28. French. 

The faith of antiquity against novelty and innova- 
tion. Matthew xix. 8. French. 
God is love. 

1 John iv. 16. French. 

Means provided in the Gospel to save man, who 

cannot save himself. Eph. ii. 8. Addison. 
The power, mercy and justice of God. 

Psalm Ixii. 11, 12. French. 

Creation. 

Genesis i. 1. French. 

No real fulfilment of the law without the aids of 

grace, through Jesus Christ. 

John i. 17. French. 

The operation of faith does not lessen the obligation 

to obedience. Romans v. 1. French. 

Spirituality of the divine nature. 

John iv. 24. French. 

Farewell exhortations- 

Jnde 21. Haskell. 

Duty of the Church to pray for the ministers of the 

gospel. 2 Thess. iii. 1. Greer, 

The final banishment of the wicked considered. 

Proverbs xur. 32. Haskell. 



166 FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 

The conditions on which the wicked may be ac- 
counted righteous, and have a hope in his death. 

Isaiah Iv. 7. Haskell. 

The certainty of death, and the equal certainty of 

a day of judgment. Hebrews ix. 27. Haskell. 
Human life, its object, brevity, uncertainty. 

James iv. 14. Haskell. 

Immortality of the soul, and the retributions of 

eternity. Job xiv. 14. Haskell. 

The heirship established by being the sons of God. 

Romans viii. 14. Haskell. 

Doing good by every proper opportunity. 

Isaiah xxxii. 20. Haskell. 

The reality of having our affections on the unseen 

G-od. 1 Peter i. IS. Haskell. 

On revelation and inspiration. What is truth ? 

John xviii. 38. Haskell. 

The necessity of a human and a divine nature in 

Christ, that he might be the mediator between 

God and man. 1 Timothy ii. 16. Danforlh. 
Family religion. 

Joshua xxiv. 15. Haskell. 

The worth of the soul. 

Mark viii. 36. Haskell. 

Funeral sermon of Mr. David M. Wilson. 

Psalms XXX vii. 37. Haskell. 

The relation of good works to the glory of God, or 

the value of Christian example. 

Matt. v. 16. Haskell. 



FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 167 

Resurrection of the dead considered. 

Acts xxiii. 6. Haskell. 

Evidences and blessings of a hope in Christ. 

Heb. vi. 19. Haskell. 

Moral truth superior to all other departments of 

knowledge. Ephesians iv. 21. Haskell. 

On the relations of the Church to the truth and the 

power of G-od. 2 Cor. iv. 7. Sunderland. 

A grateful acknowledgment of the Divine blessing. 

A retrospective discourse. 

1 Sam. vii. 12. Haskell. 
Christ the medium of connection between us and 

Grod. John vi. 68, 69. Haskell. 

The nature and fulfilment of prophecy prove the 

Scriptures true. Acts xxvi. 27. Haskell. 

Divine inspiration considered. 

Johnxiv. 11. Haskell. 

The certainty and justice of future punishment. 

2 Thess. i. 9. French. 
The existence of a personal Deity in opposition to 

modern Pantheism. Psalm xc. 2. French. 
The fall of man and its consequences. 

Rom. v. 12. French. 
Faith, its causes and consequences. 

Heb. xi. 1. French. 
The justice of Grod. 

Deut. xxxii. 4. French. 

A comparison between the Jewish and Christian 

Churches. Heb. iii. 6^. French. 



168 FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 

The evidence of adoption into the family of Christ. 

1 John iii. 14. Pyne. 
Relation between the first and second coming of 

Christ. John xii. 46. French. 

Consolations of Christ in the hour of death an 
evidence of a preparation for the day of judg- 
ment. Heb. ix. 27, 28. French. 

The original state of man's nature, and its present 
fallen condition. Eccl. vii. 29. French, 

Doctrine of the Trinity. 

Romans i. 18. Pyne, 

The Divinity of Christ. 

Heb. i. 8. French. 

Evidences of the doctrine of the resurrection and 
of the soul's immortality. 

2 Timothy i. 10. French. 
Aid of the Holy Spirit to be sought for in our de- 
votions. 1 Cor. xiv. 15. French, 

Isaiah, his times and his prophecy. 

Act xxviii. 25. Haskell. 

Times in which the Divine favor is specially mani- 
fested. Isaiah Iv. 6. Haskell, 

The providential reign of G-od in history of nations 
and races. Psalm ii. 11. Haskell. 

God has spoken to man through the medium of 
human language. Deut. xxx. 19. Haskell, 

A minister's doubts respecting his own continued 
usefulness' Philip ii. 23. Carothers, 

A discourse adapted to the ordination of elders. 
Titus i. 5. Carothers. 



FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 169 

On the joy afforded by the appearance of Christ 

among his people. John xvi. 27. Carothers. 
*'A good Soldier." A funeral discourse. 

2 Timothy ii. 3. Carothers, 

The duty to search the Scriptures urged. 

John V. 39. Waldo, 

An historical discourse. Luke i. 3, 4. Carothers, 
If we cannot comprehend things plain to the human 

understanding, how can we comprehend things 

which are spiritually discerned ? 

John iii. 12. Carothers. 

The source of original sin. Romans v. 12. French » 
Unity of the human race — an encouragement for 
foreign missions. Acts xvii. 26. French, 
As man is to be transformed, so is the whole crea- 
tion by the redeeming power of the Lord Jesus 

Christ. Romans viii. 19-23. French, 

The blessing of a revelation of a Supreme Being 

as the '' living Grod." Ps. Ixii. 1-3. French, 
The holiness of Grod. 

1 John i. 5, 6. French, 

The true standard for human action. 

Psalm cxix. 127. French, 

The specific aids which the Holy Spirit imparts in 

the formation of Christian character. 

Isaiah xi. 2, 3. French, 

Upward progress of the just contrasted with the 

downward course of the wicked. 

Proverbs iv. 18, 19. French, 

8 



170 FIVE HUNDKED TOPICS. 

Practical Christianity. 

James ii» 17. Pyne. 

The real existence of Satan and other evil spirits 

considered. Matt. iv. 1. French, 

A sermon to the firemen of Washington. 

Nahum ii. o, 4. Carothers» 

The reward of continuance in well-doing. 

Romans ii. 7. Garothers, 

Reverence and filial fear due to God. 

Psalm Ixxxix. 7. Carothers' 

The influence of personal piety on the world's con- 
version. Habakkuk ii. 3. Carothers* 
A retrospect of the season, with its temporal bless- 
ings. Matt. ix. 37. Carothers, 
The religious condition of the world favorable for 

receiving the gospel. 

Matt. ix. 38. Carothers. 

The superior excellence of Christianity considered. 

Rom. iii. 1, 2. Carothers. 

The prepared mansions. 

John xiv. 2. Carothers, 

The progressive Christian contemplated. 

Exodus xiv. 15. Carothers, 

The necessity of religious instruction. 

Deut. vi. 6, 7. Carothers, 

Omnipresence and omnipotence of Grod. 

Jer. xxiii. 24. Carothers, 

The duty of Christians to labor for the salvation 

of men. Luke xvi. 4. Carothers, 



FIVE HUNDRED TOPICS. 



171 



The power and glory of the Grospel. 

Romans i. 16, 17. Doggett. 

The Christian's cross and crown. 

James i. 12. Duncan. 

No rank in life exempt from the maladies of sin. 

2 Kings V. 12. Lehon. 

The functions and discipline of the conscience. 

Acts xxiv. 16. Duncan. 

The mysteries in religion. 

John iii. 9. Duncan. 

The tests and influence of the Grospel. 

Luke xii. 49. Doggett. 

The passion of Christ. 

John xix. 30. Doggett. 

The moral relations of man to the law of Grod. 

1 Timothy i. 8. dishop Pierce. 



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